INSECT LIFE 179 



never known a land so favoured by grayling butter- 

 flies ; on one bit of thin grass I have found the 

 grayling almost as abundant as the meadow-brown. 

 Asilus flew over the hedge and settled on the flinty 

 road a few yards from us. It is possible, with 

 cautious movements, to approach him closely. At 

 a yard's distance we could distinctly see that he 

 held, as in a vice, some small shining black insect 

 from which he sucked the life juice. Flying off a 

 yard or two, he carried with him his meat ; and 

 his partner, who soon came on the scene, had the 

 same grip on her prey. In a few minutes both 

 were gone, with a loud, sullen hum, but I had seen 

 enough of them to revise a former impression. Satan 

 does not, as I thought, sit with the powerful, hairy 

 legs raised well above the ground ; but squats almost 

 flat, legs stretched on either side. Both sexes have 

 the same rounded, humpy back and shoulders, but 

 they differ in colour. That one I take to be the 

 male is brighter yellow about the body, and I think 

 he is slightly the larger. Both have long, thin bodies 

 like those of attenuated dragon flies. My companion 

 made from memory a little sketch of Satan, and could 

 hardly exaggerate the look of ugliness and evil. Only 

 the size of the creature prevents him being world- 

 famous ; cast him on the scale of a bird, even a 

 small bird, give him a sting able to wound a man 

 we should all be up in arms against him, and put a 

 price upon his head. 



