Half hours with insects . s fiq. 227. are also mimicked by certainSyrphus flies (see Fig. 107)and by Laphria flies. Thewasps are imitated often veryclosely by certain S^rphus flies(Fig, 26, a). The most extra-ordinary case of this kind is aSyrphus fly called Spilomyia. * ^ I ^ Vespa maciilata. I once noticed this fly resting on a leaf in northern Maine, and involuntarily drew back,supposing it to be a white faced wasp (Vespa maculata. ). It is smooth-bodied with the abdomen nearly cylin-drical and thoroughly wasp-like. The position and form ofthe markings are almost exactly as in the wa
Half hours with insects . s fiq. 227. are also mimicked by certainSyrphus flies (see Fig. 107)and by Laphria flies. Thewasps are imitated often veryclosely by certain S^rphus flies(Fig, 26, a). The most extra-ordinary case of this kind is aSyrphus fly called Spilomyia. * ^ I ^ Vespa maciilata. I once noticed this fly resting on a leaf in northern Maine, and involuntarily drew back,supposing it to be a white faced wasp (Vespa maculata. ). It is smooth-bodied with the abdomen nearly cylin-drical and thoroughly wasp-like. The position and form ofthe markings are almost exactly as in the wasp ; the face iswhite, and the eyes are banded with white in imitation ofthe white orbits of the Avasps. Even the abdomen or hindbody is banded only towards the tip as in the wasp, whilethe legs are slashed with white much as in the wasp. An-otlier Syrphus {Epopter vittatxs), with a cylindrical body, isbanded with bright yellow and resembles the Vesjya vulgaris,while there are other species, such as Doros hahjras, which 3. 292 HALF HOUKS WITH INSECTS. [Packard. resemble the Odynerus wasp. Other forms recall the masonbees, Osmia, and two green species {Sr/rjjhus ohscurus andSargus obscurus) recall Ceratina, the little green bee whichtunnels the blackberry and syringa. The Euglossa, a beewith a remarkably long tongue, is mimicked by Pangonia,equally favored with a long beak. Wasps are also mimickedby lower Hymenoptera, as the large Chalcis fly, Leucospis(Fig. 228) which is so unlike others of its family. TheTrypoxylon wasp with its club-shaped body is copied bythe Conops, even to the peculiar hue of the front edge of thewings. Descending the scale of hymenopterous life we cometo the Pompilus (Fig. 61), which is mimicked by the largeblack Mydas fly, whose antennae are unusuall}^ loi^g andhymenopterous-like. Certain ants are mimicked by speciesFig 2*^3 ^^ Clerus beetles, which are colored in the same manner and run rapidly on thebranches of bushes very much like certain beet
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1881
