340 DIVISION III. ARTICULATED ANIMALS.—CLASS IV. INSECTA. 
with the eyes greatly extended. The insects are small, and, while they are 
destructive to other species, have a taste for the honey of flowers. 
Bompy.ius. — These insects have the antenne close together, and the 
proboscis very long, and directed forwards. They make a loud, humming 
noise as they hover over flowers, the honey of which they suck up with their 
long proboscis. They fly with astonishing swiftness. 
The Bombylii are clothed with a black and yellow fur. The feet are of a 
light yellow, and the wings have the edges bordered with a sinuous brown 
band. 
ANTHRAX. — The antennx of these insects are always very short, as is 
also the proboscis. They are very hairy, but less so than the preceding. 
They often alight on the ground, and upon walls, where the sunbeams fall, 
along which they are frequently seen flying. The wings, which are very 
large, are clothed, at least in the principal species, in a garb of mourning, 
sufficiently remarkable, in which the combinations of black and white are 
admirably diversified. 
“Here,” says M. Macquart, “the line which separates the two colors is 
straight ; there it represents gradations ; in other cases it is deeply sinuous. 
Sometimes the dark part shows transparent points, or the glassy part dark 
spots. ‘ 
“This sombre garb, added to the velvet-black of the body, gives the An- 
thrax a most elegant appearance; and, while resting on the corolla of the 
honeysuckle and hawthorn to suck the juice, forms a most striking contrast, 
and sets forth its beauty no less than that of those lovely flowers.” 
Doticnorus. — The Dolichopi are insects of a green or copper color, 
with long and very delicate legs. They station themselves on walls, the 
trunks of trees, and leaves. Some run with celerity and grace on the sur- 
face of the water. 
The third family of the order — the Tubanides — comprises the genus 
Tapanus. — The Tabani are large flies, well known for the torments they 
inflict upon eattle and horses, the skins of which they pierce in order to suck 
their blood. Cuvier describes them as having a head as wide as the thorax, 
nearly hemispherical, and covered, particularly in the males, by the eyes, 
which are generally golden-green, with purple stripes. It is only the females 
which bite; their sucker, enclosed in the proboscis, is armed with six lan- 
cets, with which they pierce the skin of man and beast. 
T. Bovinus. —The Common Gad Fly. This species is of a blackish- 
brown. The palpi, the face, and the forehead are yellow ; the antenne 
black, with a whitish base; the thorax, covered with yellow hair, is 
striped with black; the posterior edges of the segments of the abdomen pale 
yellow; the legs yellowish, with the extremities black, and the exterior edge 
of the wings yellow. 
