182 BOx\.RD OF AGRICULTURE. 



black color, with a broad short head and laterally prominent 

 eyes ; on the face in front a thick tuft of long yellowish hairs, 

 and a smaller tuft behind each eye ; the thorax is broad, and 

 slightly rounded above, covered with long yellowish hairs, two 

 tufts of the same color beneath the base of each wing ; the 

 abdomen is slightly broader than the thorax in the females, 

 and covered with long black prostrate hairs, tlie three basal 

 segments in some specimens are covered with hairs of the 

 same color as those of the thorax ; tlie feet are long, clothed 

 with blackish hair, except upon the femora and tibia of the 

 first and second pair, where it is mixed with yellow, especially 

 beneath ; the wings are hyaline, excepting where crossed by the 

 stout fuscous veins, which are narrowly bordered with a smoky 

 tinge. It measures an inch or more in length, and the wings 

 expand about 2.10. 



Asilus sericeiis of Say, or the silky Asilus, (the generic name 

 was used by the ancients to denote a species of gad-fly,) 

 (figure 57, Harr.,') is the representative 

 of a large number of species which live 

 in the imago stage upon the juices of 

 weaker individuals, especially those be- 

 longing to the same Order. The species 

 here represented is described by Dr. 

 Harris as devouring the roots of the 

 tart rhubarb, when in the larva state, 

 but as it fully compensates for this 

 Fig. 57. after acquiring its wings, by destroying 



myriads of more noxious insects, this and all the species of the 

 same family may be ranked among our benefactors. " It is of 

 a brownish yellow color, covered with a short silky down, vary- 

 ing in different lights from golden yellow to brown, and with a 

 broad brown stripe on the top of the thorax. The wings arc 

 smoky brown with broad brownish-yellow veins, and expand 

 one inch and a (piartcr or more." It measures in length from 

 .8 to 1.10. 



Midas chwdlus of Drury, or the club-horned Midas, (called 

 in Harris's Treatise Midas fddtus, or the orange-banded 

 Midas,) (figure 58, Harr.,) is the largest species found in this 

 State; it is less common in the eastern part than the 

 Laphria lltordcica described above, but according to Harris, 



