. Elementary entomology. Entomology. Fig. 364. A robber-fly [Stenopogon inqninattis), and another {Dasylis soceata) resembling a bumble-bee. (Natural size) (After Kellogg) same manner as does a dragon-fly. The most common species are of a sober gray color, marked with white, yellow, or black, with a long, tapering abdomen, long, narrow wings, large, keen eyes, and a strong proboscis, with which they suck the juices of their prey. Other species are thickly clothed with black and yellow hairs, so that they closely resemble bumble- bees. The lar\'se are mostly pre- dacious and live in the ground


. Elementary entomology. Entomology. Fig. 364. A robber-fly [Stenopogon inqninattis), and another {Dasylis soceata) resembling a bumble-bee. (Natural size) (After Kellogg) same manner as does a dragon-fly. The most common species are of a sober gray color, marked with white, yellow, or black, with a long, tapering abdomen, long, narrow wings, large, keen eyes, and a strong proboscis, with which they suck the juices of their prey. Other species are thickly clothed with black and yellow hairs, so that they closely resemble bumble- bees. The lar\'se are mostly pre- dacious and live in the ground or in decaying wood, where they feed on the larvae of beetles and on decaying vegetable matter. The robber-flies can hardly be con- sidered beneficial, as they rarely feed on noxious insects to any extent, and often destroy bees. In the third group is a considerable series of important families, in which the first two segments of the antennae are small and the third is large and clublike and bears a single, conspicuous bristle, called an arista. The bee-flies {Bomhyliidae) are medium-sized, oval-shaped flies, with a thick covering of yellow hairs, giving them a resemblance to bees which is increased by their habit of hover- ing over flowers, upon the nectar of which the flies feed by means of their long tongues. Some of them frequent orchards and aid in carrying the pollen from flower to flower by means of the body hairs, to which it adheres. The lar\^ae live in the ground and are very beneficial, being para- sitic upon cutworms, army-worms, and grasshopper eggs. The long-legged flies (Dolichopodidae) should be mentioned, for they are of such a striking metallic green, or blue, as to attract. Fig. 365. A bee-fly {Bombylius sp.). (En- larged) (After Weed). Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Sande


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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1912