92 DIPTERA. 



help of their proboscis, they are enabled to ex- 

 tract from the nectaries of flowers. The acti- 

 vity of the males is by no means equal to that 

 of the other sex ; they generally confine their 

 flight to a small space, making several turns, 

 and appearing, as it were, to invite the females 

 to join them. 



Of their larvse little is known. Degeer is the 

 only naturalist who has noticed that of the 

 T. bovinusy which is of a yellowish white, with 

 a cylindrical body divided into 12 rings, with- 

 out feet, and having a scaly head armed with two 

 large moveable fangs. It resides under ground 

 in moist meadows, and changes into a brown 

 chrysalis, having the abdomen fringed with 

 long hairs. From this chrysalis in the space 

 of a month the perfect insect proceeds. 



SPECIFICATION. 



Tabanus bovinus. T. oculis virescentibus, abdo- 

 minis dorso maculis albis trigonis longitudinali- 

 bus. Linn. Sj/st. Nat. 1. p. 1000. Gmel. p. 2882. 

 Fabr. Spec. Ins. 2. p. 455. Mant. Ins. 2. p. 354. j 

 Eniom. Syst t 4. p. 363. 



