. Nature study and life. Nature study. INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 253 The tachina flies are another numerous family of extremely beneficial insects. They are large to medium- sized flies and resemble the house fly in form and general appearance. They are the stout, bristly flies that we see so often on sunny days about rank vegetation. Their larvae are all parasitic on other insects, chiefly on the injurious leaf-eating caterpillars. While an ichneumon commonly attacks only a single species or its near rela- tions, the tachina flies present the advantage of working upon almost any in- se
. Nature study and life. Nature study. INSECTS BENEFICIAL AND BEAUTIFUL 253 The tachina flies are another numerous family of extremely beneficial insects. They are large to medium- sized flies and resemble the house fly in form and general appearance. They are the stout, bristly flies that we see so often on sunny days about rank vegetation. Their larvae are all parasitic on other insects, chiefly on the injurious leaf-eating caterpillars. While an ichneumon commonly attacks only a single species or its near rela- tions, the tachina flies present the advantage of working upon almost any in- sect that may be numerous. Thus a tachina fly will lay her eggs on a cater- pillar, if she can find one. If not, she may lay them on grasshoppers, bugs, beetles, sawflies, or even bumblebees. The white, oval eggs are glued to the body of an insect as though they were a part of its own skin. The little maggots on hatching burrow into their victim and feed upon its tis- sues and juices. Growth is rapid and after its attainment the little plunderers are said to murder their host by destroying a vital organ, after which they work their way out. Unlike the ichneumons the tachina larvas spin no cocoons, but instead the outer skin hardens into an oval case, the pupa case, or puparium ; within this the larvae change into pupae, and in about ten days we may expect to see them emerge as adult flies. There may be several generations a Fig. 107. Tachina Fly Eggs on a caterpillar, larva, adult, and pupa; size a little larger than a house fly. 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 Hodge, Clifton Fremont, 1859-. Boston and London, Ginn & Co.
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