140 A REMORSELESS ENEMY. 



has, as far as I know, no -English name. Its scien- 

 tific title is Empis. There are several species of 

 this useful fly, one attaining some size ; but the one 

 that claims our notice just at present is the little 

 empis, scientifically Empis Tessellata. 



I well remember how much I was struck with the 

 discovery that the empis preyed on the little oak 

 moths, and the manner in which they did so. 



One summer's day, I was entomologising in a 

 wood, when a curious kind of insect caught my 

 attention. I could make nothing of it, for it was 

 partly green, like a butterfly or moth, and partly 

 glittering like a fly, and had passed out of reach 

 before it could be approached. On walking to the 

 spot whence it had come, I found many of the same 

 creatures flying about, and apparently enjoying 

 themselves very much. 



A sweep of the net captured four or five; and then 

 was disclosed the secret. The compound creature 

 was, in fact, a living empis, clasping in its arms the 

 body of an oak moth which it had killed, and into 

 whose body its Jong beak was driven. I might have 

 caught hundreds if it had been desirable. The grasp 

 of the fly was wonderful, and if the creature had 

 been magnified to the human size, it would have 

 afforded the very type of a remorseless, deadly, un- 

 yielding gripe. Never did miser tighter grasp a 

 golden coin, than the empis fastens its hold on its 

 green prey. Never did usurer suck his client more 



