. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. BOMBYLIIDAE ACROCERIDAE 489. Fig. 233.~Si/stropus cniddis. South Africa. A, Pupa; B, imago, ap- pendages of the left side removed. (After Westwood.) sjnrfus are emptied of their contents by the larvae of Sijsioeehus orcas and Triodiies mus. A similar observation has been made in the Troad by Mr. Calvert, who found that the Bombyliid, Callostoma fasci2Knnis, destroys large quantities of the eggs of Calopteniis itcdicus. Still more recently M. Kiinckel d'Herculais has discovered that the destructive locust Stauronot'us marocccmus is kept in check in Alge
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. BOMBYLIIDAE ACROCERIDAE 489. Fig. 233.~Si/stropus cniddis. South Africa. A, Pupa; B, imago, ap- pendages of the left side removed. (After Westwood.) sjnrfus are emptied of their contents by the larvae of Sijsioeehus orcas and Triodiies mus. A similar observation has been made in the Troad by Mr. Calvert, who found that the Bombyliid, Callostoma fasci2Knnis, destroys large quantities of the eggs of Calopteniis itcdicus. Still more recently M. Kiinckel d'Herculais has discovered that the destructive locust Stauronot'us marocccmus is kept in check in Algeria in a similar manner, as many as 80 per cent of the eggs of the locust being thus destroyed in certain localities. He observes that the larva of the ily, after being full fed in the autumn, passes the winter in a state of lethargy— he calls it " hypnody"—in the egg-case of the locust, and he further informs us that in the case oi Anthrax fenectralis, which devours the eggs of the large Ocnerodcs, the lethargy may be prolonged for a period of three years. After the pupa is formed it works a way out of the case l>y means of its armature, and then again becomes for some days immobile before the perfect fly appears. Lepidopterous larvae are also attacked by Bombyliid flies. A species of S^/strojms has been recorded as destroying the larva of Zimacodes. Several of the Bombyliids of the genus just mentioned are remarkable for the great resemblance they display to various Hymenoptera, some of them being very slender flies, like the thin bodied fossorial Hymenoptera. The difference between the pupa and imago in this case is very remarkable (Fig. 233). Fam. 21. Acroceridae or Cyrtidae.—Mies of the average size, of peetdiar form, the small head consisting cdmost entirely of the eyes, ctnd bent down under the humped thorax : wings small, halteres entirely concecded ly the very large horizontal squamae; antennae very diverse. The peculiar shape of these flies is an ex
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1895
