416 Southern Bee Killers. 
I have also a fly of the same family, with the same bee- 
destroying habits, a species of Erax (Fig. 197). In form 
it resembles the one referred to above. The wing (Fig. 
199), as will be seen, is quite different in its venation. I 
received this species from Louisiana. Fig. 198, a, shows 
the antenne magnified. The Nebraska bee killer, Pro- 
machus bastardi, is the same in general appearance as the 
above. The second vein of the primary wing, not the 
third, as in case of Asilus, forks. In Erax as seen in the 
figure, this branch is disconnected. 
There are two other insects of this family, Mallophora 
Fic. 200. Fic. 201. 
orcina and Mallophora bomboides, which differ greatly in 
form from those mentioned above; they look more like 
bumble-bees, for which they have been mistaken. 
I have received these insects from several of our enter- 
prising bee-keepers of the South—Tennessee, Georgia, 
and Florida—with the information that they dart forth 
from some convenient perch, and with swift and sure aim 
grasp a bee, and bear it to some bush, when they leisurely 
suck out all but the mere crust and cast away the remains. 
The insects in question belong to Loew’s third group 
Asilina, as the antenne end in a bristle (Fig. 200), while 
the second longitudinal vein of the wing (Fig. 202 b) 
runs into the first (Fig. 202, a). ; 
The genus is Mallophora, The venation of the wings 
