THE PALE CCEXOMYIA. 
607 
have never been described. Its larva and pupa almost ex¬ 
actly resemble those of the rapacious Asilians. The larva 
is a cylindrical, whitish maggot, tapering before, and almost 
rounded behind ; it has only two breathing-holes, which are 
placed in the last ring but one; and it grows to the length 
of two inches. It lives and undergoes its transformations 
in decayed logs and stumps. The pupa measures about an 
inch and a quarter in length ; it is of a brown color, and 
nearly cylindrical shape; its tail is forked; there are eight 
thorns on the fore part of its body; and each ring of the 
abdomen is edged wdth numerous sharp teeth, like a saw, 
all these teeth pointing backwards except those on the back 
of the first ring, which are directed forwards. The pupa 
pushes itself half-way out of the stump when the fiy is about 
• to come forth, and the latter makes its escape by splitting 
open the back of the pupa-skin. 
In the month of June, there may sometimes be seen, rest¬ 
ing on the grass or on rotten stumps, in open woods, a large 
light-brown or drab-colored fiy, somewhat like a horse-fiy 
in form, but easily distinguished therefrom by two little 
thorns on the hinder part of the thorax; and by the wings, 
w’hich do not spread so much when the insect is at rest. It 
is heavy and sluggish in its motions, and does not attempt 
to fiy away when approached. This insect was called Coe- 
nomyia the pale Coenomyia, by Mr. Say, in the Ap¬ 
pendix to Keating’s “ Narrative,” and in the second volume 
of the “ American Entomoloav,” where it is figured. The 
generical name, signifying a common fly, is rather unfortu¬ 
nate, for this is a rare insect. The only specimens known 
to Mr. Say were found by him in a small forest of scat¬ 
tered trees, on the Pecktannos River, in Wisconsin. A few 
have been taken in Massachusetts, one of them on Blue 
Hill, in ]Milton; and Mr. Gosse found three specimens, in as 
many years, in Canada. In its transformations this insect 
is more nearly related to the gad-flies and the Asilians than 
to the soldier-flies, near which it has generally been placed; 
