56 THE INSECT WORLD. 
The genus Anthrax, belonging to this family, has a different form 
to Bombylius. The body is much less hairy; the trunk is short 
and concealed in the mouth; the wings, 
which are very large, are clothed, at least 
in the principal genus, 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 colours is 
straight, there it represents gradations, in 
other cases it is deeply sinuous. Some- 
times 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 Anthrax a 
most elegant appearance; and while 
resting on the corolla of the honey- 
suckle and hawthorn to suck the juice, 
forms a most striking contrast, and sets 
forth its beauty no less than that of 

Fig. 36.—Bombylius major. 
those lovely flowers.” 
Anthrax sinuata is common in Europe. 
The family of the Syrphide includes three remarkable types, . 






< ye which we cannot pass over in silence. 
i! They are Vermileo, Volucella, and Helo- 
_ \ Sie = philus. 
A == Vermileo de Geeri (Fig. 37), which 
inhabits the central and southern parts 
\ of France, is four or five lines in 
length. Its face is white; its forehead 
erey, bordered with black ; the thorax 
: ‘ of a-yellowish grey, with four brown 
Be ool Verne de Geen, stripes in the male; the abdomen 
light yellow, spotted with black ; and the wings glassy. 
The larva of the Vermileo has a thin cylindrical body, capable 
of bending itself in every direction; a conical head, armed with 
two horny points; and the last segment elongated, flat, elevated, 
