4S 



BBE-KILLEIt. ITS HABITS AND DBSTR0CTIVENES8. 



sitive. Here it is hard and doKtitute of feeling — a large, tapering, horn- 

 like tube, inclosing a sharp lance or epear-pointod tongue to dart out from 

 its end and cut a wound for it to enter, this end, moreover, being fringed 

 and bearded around with stiff bristles to bond backward and thus hold it 

 securely in the wound into which it is crowded. The proboscis of the 

 horse flics is tormenting, but this of tiie Asihis flies is torturing. That 

 presses its soft cushion-like lips to the wound to suck the blood from it ; 

 this crowds its hard prickly knob into the wound to pump the juices there- 

 from. It is said those Asilus flies sometimes attack cattle and horses, but 

 other writers disbelieve this. Should any of our Nebraska friends see one 

 of those be("-killers alighting upon and actually wounding horses or cattle, 

 we hope thoy will inform us of the fact, that this mooted point may bo defin- 

 itely settled. Certain it is that those flies nourish themselves principally 

 upon other insects, attacking all that they are sufficiently largo and strong 

 to overpower. Even the hard crustaccous shell with which the beetles are 

 covered fails to protect them from the butchery of these barbarians. And 

 formidably- as tlic boe is equipped for punishing any intruder which vent 

 tures to molest it, it here finds itself overmatched and its sting powerless 

 against the horny proboscis of its murderer. These flies appear to be par. 

 ticularly prone to attack the bees, llobineau Desvoidy states that he had 

 repeatedly seen the Anilux diadc.ma, a European species somewhat smaller 

 than this of Nebraska, flying with a bee in its hold. But it probably does 

 not relish those more than it does other insects. We presume it to be 

 because it finds them in such abundance, as enables it to make a meal upon 

 them most readily, and with the least exertion, that these Nebraska flies 

 fall upon the bees and the rose bugs. And so large as they arc, a single 

 one will require perhaps a hundred bees per day for its nourishment. If 

 these flies arc common, theroforo, they will inevitably occasion great losses 

 to the bee keepers in that part of our country. 



No feasible mode of destroying this fly or protecting the bees from it at 

 present occurs to me. Indeed such an accurate knowledge of the particu- 

 lar habits of this species as we do not at present possess, is necessary, to 

 show in what manner it can be most successfully combattcd. 



Since the foregoing account was written, Mr. Thompson has favored us 

 with another communication, giving some most interesting observations upon 

 the habits and destructiveness of this insect, which we here append in his 

 own words. He says, 3Iy attention was first called to this fly destroying 

 the honey bee by a little boy, a son of I). C. Utty, Esq., of this place- 

 After sending you the specimens I watched its proceedings and habits with 

 much care, and find that, in addition to the honey bee and rose bugs, 

 it devours many other kinds of beetles, bugs and flies, some of which are 

 as large again as itself. It appears to be in the months of June and July 

 that it is abroad upon the wing, destroying the bees. None of them are 

 now (August 2d) to be seen. When in pursuit of its prey it makes quite 

 rapid dashes, always capturing the bee on the wing. When once secured 

 by wrapping its legs about it, pressing it tightly to its own body, it irame. 

 diately seeks a bush or tall weed, upon which it alights and comtnencea 



