DIPTERA 



135 



large size, and their peculiar form. The larger species 

 are unmistakable. They have bodies resembling those 

 of mosquitoes but with abdomen less regular in shape 

 and they have extremely long legs. They fly over mead- 

 ows and through underbrush in partially wooded tracts 

 and are most nu- 

 merous in the warm 

 days of late fall. 

 It is next to im- 

 possible to secure 

 specimens with the 

 full complement of 

 legs, since they are 

 so loosely attached 

 that the least touch 

 serves to detach 

 them. Crane-fly 

 larvae live in the 

 soil and are said 

 to be injurious to 

 the roots of plants 

 in the Western 

 States. 



86. Asilidse. 

 This is another 

 family which in- 

 cludes many large 

 species. The common name for them is Robber-flies. They 

 have slender, tapering, humpbacked bodies and rather 

 short and stout legs. They are predaceous and capture 

 and kill other insects of many kinds, frequently over- 

 powering and eating grasshoppers twice their size. The 

 beginner may not distinguish robber-flies from certain 



FIG. 101. Types of Flies. Above, a Midas- 

 fly (Midaidce) . Lower figures, robber-flies 

 (Asilidce). Slightly reduced. 



