

84 3 THE INSECT WORLD. 
They often unite in numerous bands in the air and indulge in the 
joyous dances to which love invites them. The females deposit their 
eggs in the ground, and their larve are there quickly developed. The 
latter suspend themselves to certain bodies, the same as some 
Lepidopterous chrysalides, in order to transform themselves into 
pupe. 
The Anthomya pluvialis (Fig. 68) is from two to four lines in 
length, and of a whitish ash-colour. Its wings are hyaline, the 
thorax has five black spots, and the abdomen three rows of similar 
spots. 
We will stop a moment with the Pegomyas, which are very inte- 
resting in the larve state, and which excited the interest and 
sagacity of Réaumur. 
The cradle of these Diptera is the interior 
of leaves. They work as the miners of the 
vegetable world, in the parenchyma of the 
leaf, between the two epidermal mem- 
branes. The henbane, the sorrel, and the 
thistle, especially nourish them. If one 
holds a leaf in which one of these miners 
has established itself against the light, one 
sees the workman continually boring the 
vegetable membrane. Its head is armed 
with a hook, formed of two horny pieces, 
and with this hook it digs into the paren- 
chyma of the leaf. The effect of this 
digging is visible, as those places become 
by degrees transparent. Each blow detaches 
a small portion of the substance of the 
leaf. It is thus that these miners hollow 
out galleries for themselves, in which they 
Fig. 63 —Anthomya pluvialis. 
find shelter, food, and security. Some are 
changed into pupe in the gallery which they have hollowed 
out, others go out of the leaves when they are near their final 
transformation. 
Section of Acalyptera.—The Acalyptera, which are the last of 
the great tribe of Muscide, comprehend the greater number of 
these insects. Their organisation is impaired and their constitu- 
