236 



larva of one (Microdon) has been described as a Gastropod 

 molliisk (Scutelligera, Spix) ! The pupa is enclosed in the har- 

 dened skin of the larva ("coarctate "). 



Scopoli (A. i). 1763) first distinguished this group from the 

 rest of the Linnsean Muscat, by an essential character taken from 

 the structure of the proboscis with the development of the 

 maxillary lancets (Ent. Cam. p. 351. g. Conops) ; but having 

 overlooked the slender tongue in Rhingia rostrata, he was led to 

 constitute a distinct genus for this insect (ibid. 358), and he left 

 a few species of the family still in the genus Musca. Eabricius 

 (A. D. 1775) denned the contents more successfully (Syst. Ent. g. 

 Syrplius}, but retained the distinction of the genus Rhingia. 

 Harris, in his 'Exposition of English Insects' (A. D. 1782), ex- 

 hibited the distinctive characters of the wings of this family 

 under three sections, which may be exemplified by the genera 

 Volucella, Eristalis, and SyrpJms respectively. Latreille (Precis, 

 A. D. 1797) added the genus Ceria, and in 1802 gave the denomi- 

 nation to the family ; in which fifteen genera were characterized, 

 the year following, by Meigen (Illiger's Magazine, vol. ii.). In 

 the ( Systema Antliatorum/ the latest work of Fabricius, bearing 

 date 1805, the genera Syrphus and Rhinyia of his previous 

 arrangements are distributed under twelve genera. The disposition 

 is faulty in many respects, and as he did not attend to the prior 

 applications of the generic names, the book is an authority only 

 as regards the species described in it. In 1809 Latreille gave a 

 more detailed character of the family, which he divided into 

 sections and fourteen genera, but still including in it the genus 

 Pipunculns (Gen. Cr. et Ins. torn. iv.). Fallen, in his first 

 arrangement of the family (A. D. 1810), included not only Pipun- 

 culus, but Scenopinus also, in the SyrpMci, following Fabricius in 

 the application of the generic names : in 1816 he described the 

 Swedish species, and limited the family by the removal of Sceno- 

 pinus. Meigen's first work on the species of European Diptera, 

 published in 1804, was not continued so far as to the present 

 family ; but his arrangement in the third volume of the ' Syste- 

 matische Beschreibung' (A. D. 1822), with additions in the later 

 volumes, has not been superseded by any other. Macquart (Ins. 

 Dipt, du Nord de France) and Zetterstedt (Diptera Scandinavise) 

 have contributed much to the illustration of this family ; and Loew 

 (Entom. Zeitung) has subjected several of the genera to a 

 thorough critical investigation, and has enriched them with many 

 new species. 



