. Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower . THE INSECT WORLD. 351 little family Co7iopidce, which is not at all injurious, but rather the contrary. Professor Comstock calls them "thick-head flies," and the term is not bad, because the head is usually very promi- nent and as wide or wider than the body. The thorax is unusu- ally short, and bears a long abdomen having the basal joints very slender and the terminal joints Fig. 403. enlarged, bulb-like, much resembling in appear- ance that of certain wasps. The flies are moder- ate in size, with the wings more or less brown o
. Economic entomology for the farmer and fruit-grower . THE INSECT WORLD. 351 little family Co7iopidce, which is not at all injurious, but rather the contrary. Professor Comstock calls them "thick-head flies," and the term is not bad, because the head is usually very promi- nent and as wide or wider than the body. The thorax is unusu- ally short, and bears a long abdomen having the basal joints very slender and the terminal joints Fig. 403. enlarged, bulb-like, much resembling in appear- ance that of certain wasps. The flies are moder- ate in size, with the wings more or less brown or clouded, and they may often be found on flowers after midsummer, in company with the Hymen- ^ ..,.•,• ^ -' J Conops timalis. optera, which they resemble. The larvae are parasites, chiefly, it is said, upon bumble-bees and wasps, in which case they are not beneficial ; but also on grasshoppers, in which respect they deserve our most distinguished consideration. Distinctly injurious insects we find in the family QLstridcB, or "; These are usually of good size, sometimes even very large, and peculiar by having the mouth parts almost entirely aborted. Some of the species are very hairy, yellowish in color, and with rather a pointed abdomen ; while others are very plump, robust flies, blue or blue-black in color, often with a whitish bloom like that of a plum, formidable in appearance, though in fact entirely inoflensive in this stage. In the larval condition they are known as "bots," and live beneath the skin, in the intestines, or in the mucus-lined head passages of the animals infested by them. Thus, the "horse-bot," Gastrophilus equi, passes its life in the stomach, attached to the inner coat, and there remains until full grown, when it releases its hold and is passed in the natural way through the anus. It then crawls into some convenient place just below the surface of the ground, or even among rubbish on top of it, and changes to
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbenefic, bookyear1906
