Insects at Home: Being a Popular Account of British Insects, Their Structure, Habits, and Transformations

purpose of showing the enormous eyes of the insect, and the space which they occupy in the head. The ocelli, or simple eyes, are shown at Fig. c.

On the same Woodcut, Fig. 2, is shown another species, called Volucella plumata, so called because the bristle of the antennae is so strongly feathered that it is quite conspicuous even to the naked eye. It looks very much like a humble-bee, and indeed, so closely resembles a worker humble-bee, that no one who was not an entomologist would think that it could be any other insect. The thorax is shining black, and has a quantity of golden-yellow hair on the sides. The thorax is also black, with yellow hair on the base, and grey hair at the end.

This species haunts the nests of humble-bees, and probably, owing to the bee-like aspect of the insect, mixes freely with the bees and passes in and out of the nest without challenge. I have often taken them near the nests of humble-bees, and, in consequence of the remarkable similitude of the insects, at first allowed the Flies to escape, taking them for bees. Indeed, in the first instance, it was only the difference of flight that betrayed the parasite.

At Fig. 4 of Woodcut LXXII. is drawn an insect belonging to the typical genus. Its name is Syrphus hbcorum.

The word Syrphus is Grreek, and is given under a remarkable variety of forms, being indifferently spelt as Serphos, Sterphos, or Seriphos. It is used to designate some small winged insect, but that the word is not rightly applied to the present group of insects is evident from the fact that an old Greek proverb alludes to the Syrphus as possessing a sting.

In these insects the third joint of the antennae is oval, the abdomen is elliptic and depressed, the legs are slender, and the tarsi simple in both sexes, whereas in some genera the front tarsi of the males are flattened and widened. They are popularly known as Hawk-flies.

This species is rather a pretty insect. Its general colour is black. The thorax is clothed with rich, warm-brown hairs, I and the base of the abdomen with golden down. It is slightly S variable in the colour and extent of its markings, and in some I specimens there is a brown patch on the base of the abdomen.

The larva of the Syrphus is predacious, and feeds upon the aphides ; so that every Syrphus that is seen in the garden ought to be protected as an inestimable friend to the gardener. In shape it very much resembles the Volucella larva which bas just been described, the grub being small and tapering at the head, and wide and blunt at the tail. When the female Syrphus is engaged in the great work of oviposition, she looks out for the leaves or twigs which are most thickly beset with aphides, and deposits an egg among them, never putting two eggs near each other. As soon as it is hatched, the young Syrphus larva finds itself in the midst of its food, and straightway takes advantage of the position in wlrich it is placed. Clinging to the leaf with the projections on its under surface, the larva stretches out the fore part of the body, and, with a curious apparatus belonging to its mouth, seizes on an aphis. It then pulls the aphis from its hold on the leaf or twig, and holds it aloft, so that the struggles of its prey are quite useless, and in this position sucks the juices. A very few minutes suffice for this operation, and it then throws away the emptied skin of the unfortunate aphis, and waits until another comes in its way.

When full-fed, the Syrphus larva fixes its tail very firmly to the plant on which it has been living, attaching it by means of a sort of glue or cement. The whole of the body then contracts, and the pupa is developed within the larval skin, which acts the part of a cocoon. It is a curious fact that when this change takes place, the creature exactly reverses its shape, the thick, blunt tail being contracted nearly into a point, while the slender, attenuated fore part of the body becomes thick and blunt. Before many days have elapsed, the fly is fully developed, pushes strongly against the end of its habitation, forces off the end with its head, and emerges upon the world.

Anothek species of these insects, Syrphus or Scoiva pyrastri, is shown on Woodcut LXXIII. Fig. 1* dhis fine insect is blackish-blue, on which is a whitish-grey down. The thorax shining, and on each side of the abdomen are tliiee is very bands, varying from pure white to golden yellow. In short some few species the bands are absent. I be lar\a may be found feeding on the aphides of the rose-tree.

All the Hawk-flies are extremely variable in their numbers, sometimes being very scarce, while at other times they appear in swarms. There is a notice in the ‘ Entomologist,’ vol. iv. page 357, by Mr. C. Horne, in which the numbers of these insects are mentioned.

‘At Margate, on August 24, 1869, there came a great number of these insects, so as to attract the notice of all mm

1. Sy:^hns (or So®va) pyrastri. 2. Conops macrocephalns. 3. Tachina ferox. 4. Tachina grossa. a. Do., head. 6. Do., antenna. c. Conops macrocephalns, ’ abdomen of male.

visitors. Many specimens were taken, among which I have identified Syrphus balteatus, S. decorus, S. tceniatus, S. topiavvujS^ and ET%stcLbis tcTidx^ 1 he wind was then blowing from the east, and it was very hot weather. The pier at .Eamsgate on the same day was almost covered with them, and everyone said that they came from the Channel. After this the wind was from inland, but it was too fresh and breezy for s s many to

remain ; and they had become so scarce in the month of September, that with dijfficulty seven or eight specimens were procured.

‘ The servant at one of the houses in Clifton Terrace, Margate, says that she had to go to all the windows with a dust-pan and bnish, to take them away from the windowledges ; and I have been given to understand that it Avas the same in most of the houses at the place. They went by strange names, but the most common one was that of “ horsestingers,” from their appearance.

‘ You have already noticed flights of this class of insects in the “ Zoologist ; ” and Mr. F. Smith, of the British Museum, tells me that he saw, some years since, the line of surf on the beach for miles covered with the dead bodies of Syrphus pyrastri, so that they might have been taken up by shovelsfull. This was at Bournemouth, and the insects had been drowned in the sea, and their remains thus cast ashore. The same thing, he tells me, was observed to occur at the back of the Isle of Wight, which is not far off. Hence these flights would appear to be not uncommon, although when they do occur they are worthy of note.’

The next family is that of the Conopidae, which are represented by a very pretty insect, called Gonops vesicularis, which is shown on Plate XX. Fig. 2.

In all the Conopidae the proboscis is always long and projecting, elbowed, and siphon-shaped ; while it varies in form from conical and cylindrical to thread-like. In this organ both the mandibles and the lancet which represent the maxillae are absent, and only those portions remain which represent the upper lip and tongue ; so that all the Conopidae are perfectly harmless, and cannot even prey upon other insects.

This species bears the most extraordinary resemblance to the solitary wasps belonging to the genus Odynerus. The thorax of this insect is black, and the base of the abdomen is orange, the remainder being black and yellow, arranged as shown in the illustration. The wings are transparent, and are clouded with brown.

In its larval state this is one of the many parasitic insects, living in the interior of the humble-bee. Like the Stylops, has already beeii described in the course of this work, which

Plate Xx. Dipt Era.

1. Tabanus bovinus. 2. Conops vesicularis. 3. Gasterophilus equi 4. Tachina groesa.

Plant : — Honeysuckle.

ih undergoes all its transformations within the body of the

living bee, and then forces its way into the world between

the segments of the insect in which it had lived. Latreille

reared four of these curious flies from humble-bees which he

had placed in a box.

There are several species of Conops, all prettily coloured.

There is, for example, Conops fiavipes, a smaller and slighter insect tlian the preceding species, velvet-black in colour, banded with bright golden yellow. Then there is Conops rufipeSf which is coloured exactly like the hornet, the thorax being reddish-brown and the abdomen yellow, banded with dark brown. Another species, Conops macrocephalus, is shown on Woodcut FIs’* 2, and the curious abdomen of the male insect is drawn at Fig. c. The speciflc name macrocephalus signifles long-headed, and is given to the insect in consequence of the shape of the head, which is wider than the thorax.

This is a pretty and not common insect. The general colour is black, and there is a coating of short ashen hairs. The face is yellow, the antennae rust-red, and upon the shoulder of the thorax there is a spot of silvery white. The wings are yellowish, darkening into brown on the costal margin. The abdomen is black, the margin of each segment is yellow, with a silvery gloss. The legs are reddish, and the base of the thighs dark brown. The insect may be found upon flowers.

The generic name Conops is clearly a wrong one, and calculated to mislead anyone who is something of a classical scholar and little of an entomologist. The word is Greek, signifying a gnat, and has been incorporated in our language in the well-known word ‘ canopy,’ i.e., a gnat-curtain, that being the real meaning of the word. Herodotus employs the word Conops when describing the gnats or mosquitos which infest the marshy lands on the banks of the Nile, and the method employed by the fishermen in guarding themselves fiom the attacks of these troublesome insects.

We now come to the enormous family of the Muscid®, a family which may rank with the ichneumon-flies, the Noctuse and Tineae Moths, and the Eove-beetles, as tests of an entomologist’s temper and patience. It is hardly possible to imagine anything more trying to the entomologist s s 2 than to have half a

dozen large boxes of Muscidao placed before him, -with instructions to find out their names, and to marshal them in their right places. The task really seems to be a hopeless one, and life to be too short for accomplishing it, more especially as there are sure to be some hitherto undescribed species, and they are equally sure to come first to hand, as if for the express purpose of making the unfortunate entomologist hunt for their description in vain. At least a thousand species of Muscidae are known to inhabit England, and it is probable that twice that number may be yet discovered and named.

Fortunately, there is no difficidty in deciding whether a fly belongs to this family or not, as a glance at the proboscis will at once determine its place. This organ is short and membranous, and terminated by two large lobes, the structure of which will be briefly described in the course of the following pages. None of the Muscidse are of any great size, the ordinary house-fly being of about the average dimensions.