82 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



the honey by means of their very long proboscis. Their 

 transformations seem to be little known ; Latreille supposes 

 them to be parasitical in the nests of other insects. The 

 perfect fly (which very much resembles a Bee, and is hence 

 termed the Bee-fly) may often be met with in fine weather, 

 making a humming sound during its flight. 



This family has been by some authors confounded with 

 Asilidce, from which it is however distinguished by the pro- 

 boscis in the latter being very short, and the body longer. 

 The Asilidce prey on other insects, which they seize on the 

 wing by means of their fore legs, and extract the juices 

 with the lancet-like parts of the mouth. The larvae in this 

 family reside in the ground ; the body is long, the head 

 scaly ; they are destitute of legs, but make use of the hooks 

 on the head to draw themselves along ; they form no cocoon 

 when about to become pupae, but undergo the transforma- 

 tion in the same locality in which they have existed in the 

 state of larvae. The finest species is the A silus crabroni- 

 formis, thus named from the resemblance it bears to the 

 Hornet, Vespa crabro. 



