136 FLIES. 



dling clothes and mount on airy wings, a perfect 

 insect. 



There are many species of bot or breeze flies 

 that are curious in their breeding habits. Each 

 kind chooses its own type of animal on which to 

 leave its larvae. They are found on rats, squir- 

 rels, rabbits, in the nostrils of sheep, even on 

 frogs, in large tumors on the backs of cattle, and 

 in the stomachs of horses. The peculiar instinct 

 of the species that infests this last-named animal, 

 is especially interesting. What is it that directs 

 this insect to glue its eggs on the very places 

 where Dobbin is most likely to nibble, thus intro- 

 ducing them into the receptacle that is necessary 

 for their development .■' 



There are large robber flies that swoop upon 

 other insects, and fly off with them, as hawks do 

 with chickens and small birds. Many species in 

 this family are seen flying about the sandy shores 

 of ponds and rivers. They never crawl about, but 

 if undisturbed, remain a long time in one place, 

 turning around quickly and flirting their wings 

 like the wasps whenever any thing passes over 

 them. All have very long, sharp claws ; the spe- 

 cies in one genus, in addition to these, have on 

 their forelegs stout hooked spines, which are used 

 as birds of prey use their talons. To this group 

 belongs that remarkably rapacious and quick- 

 winged species, the bee killer. It is a veritable 



