ASILID^. 395 



• The tibiae are spurred ; the larvae slender, cylindrical ; the 

 body widening posteriorly, terminates in two points, while 

 the pupa is naked, incomplete, with transverse rows of 

 spines on the abdomen, becoming largest at the tip. The 

 larva of Leptis vermileo Fabr. lives at the bottom of holes 

 which it makes in sand, and thus, like the ant-lion, entraps 

 other insects. 



^^ /j Ctktid.e Loew. Known by the greatly inflated thorax and 

 abdomen this family is of but small extent, comprising species 

 which have the proboscis rather obsolete, or long and bent be- 

 neath the body. Such are the genera Cyrtus, Acrocera and 

 Oncocles. The genus Hirmoneura represents the family Hie- 



MONEURID^ of Loew. 



Mydasid^ Leach. This family, represented in this country 

 by the single genus Midas, is easily known by the large size of 

 the species, and by the long clavate antennae, the fleshy labium, 

 and the minute empodium. The larva and pupa are 

 said by Harris to almost exactly resemble those of 

 the rapacious Asilidae. The larva of Midas davatus 

 Drury is cylindrical, whitish, tapering before and 

 almost rounded behind, with two spiracles in the last 

 segment but one of the abdomen, and is two inches 

 long. It lives and undergoes its transformations in 

 decaying logs. (Harris.) The pupa (Fig. 316, drawn 

 from a specimen in the Harris collection) is about 

 an inch and a quarter long, brown, nearly cylindrical, 

 with a forked tail ; there are eight spines on the forepart of 

 the bod_y. 3Iidas fidvipes Walsh has similar habits and its 

 transformations are similar ', the larva is insectivorous. 



AsiLiDiE (Asilici) Latreille. These large, stout, Eobber-flies, 

 as the Germans style them, are covered with stiff hairs, and 

 have long abdomens. The third joint of the antennae is sim- 

 ple ; the labium forms a horny sheath, and the empodium is 

 like a horny bristle. They are I'apacious, seizing other insects 

 and flying off with them, like the fossorial hymenoptera. Da- 

 sypogon (Fig. 271, 3, wing) has the second longitudinal vein 



