68 PLATE XXXL 



tl* moil lingular part of it. hiflory.---The female depofns her eggs !n 

 the hollow flalk. of aquatic plants, or broken reeds, or fo prod. 

 for them that they cannot, but by feme unforefcen accident, be car- 

 ried away. The egg, in due time ripening, produces a Larva, no 

 way refembling the Parent, but rather a Worm of a moft lingular 

 ftruaure. This happens about the latter end of May, or beginntng 

 of June if the weather proves favourable ; they will then be found in 

 fallow ftanding waters, crawling on the grab or plants wh.ch grow 

 there, or they may be taken Boating on the fur face of the water. 

 The whole confifts of twelve annular divifions, of which the Head 

 and Tail are two. The Tail has a verge of hairs, which, when en- 

 tirely expanded, fupport the creature on the furface, with its head 

 downwards- If it wifhes to defcend, it contracts the hairs in the form 

 of a wine glafs, or entirely clofes them at the end ; and when again it 

 is rifing to the furface, it forces a bubble from a fmall aperture in the 

 center, which immediately makes a paffage for its afcenfion. After 

 remaining fome time in the pupa ftate, the Fly is produced: this 

 appears about the middle of July. The ne&areous juices of flowers, 

 which it extracts by means of its probofcis, or fucker, from the co- 

 rolla of flowers, conftitute its principal food in the perfeft ftate. 



F I G. II. 



MUSCA P E N D U L A, 



Pendulum-Fly. 

 SPECIFIC CHARACTER 



■AWD 



SYNONYMS, 



Downy : thorax black, with four yellow lines : abdomen with 

 three yellow bands. 



Musca. 



