II 



FLIES WITH AQUATIC LARV^ 



199 



means read Reaumur's own words 

 rather than my abstract. 



He remarks in the first place 

 that there are Dipterous flies so 

 curiously like Bees and Wasps that 

 even an experienced entomologist 

 will hesitate to handle them for 

 fear of being stung. They have 

 the colour, the size, and very nearly 

 the shape of the formidable Insects 

 which they imitate, and like them 

 they haunt flowers. Some of them 

 pass their feeding stage in water. 

 The larva of Eristalis is one of 

 these. It bears a very long tail, 

 on which account Reaumur pro- 

 posed for it a name which is still 

 current, that of the Rat-tailed 

 Maggot iver a queue de rat). 



The larva has seven pair of short 

 feet set at nearly equal distances, 

 the first being near the head, and 

 the last not far from the root of 

 the tail. The extremit)^ of each 

 foot is circular, and armed like the 

 prolegs of a caterpillar with a large 

 number of fine hooks ; the feet 

 can be retracted at pleasure. The 

 hooks are set in a double circle, 

 the circle next to the tip being 

 made up of larger and less numer- 

 ous hooks than the other. The 







2y>v.'..;..'-.-v.-f>l 



Fig. 70. — Larva of Eris- 

 talis, ventral view. 



