Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . ch it will speedily drain of its juices. In these insects thegrasping power of thefore-legs is wonderful,and the tenacity withwhich they stick to theirprey scarcely less a windy day, ourEnglish hornet-flies maybe seen drifting along inthe breeze as if withoutany purpose. No sooner,however, do they comenear another insect thanthey pounce on it, claspit tightly with their fore-legs, and drive the beakinto its body. It oftenhappens that the remain-ing legs are not sufficiently strong
Insects abroad : being a popular account of foreign insects, their structure, habits, and transformations . ch it will speedily drain of its juices. In these insects thegrasping power of thefore-legs is wonderful,and the tenacity withwhich they stick to theirprey scarcely less a windy day, ourEnglish hornet-flies maybe seen drifting along inthe breeze as if withoutany purpose. No sooner,however, do they comenear another insect thanthey pounce on it, claspit tightly with their fore-legs, and drive the beakinto its body. It oftenhappens that the remain-ing legs are not sufficiently strong to enable the insect to holdits own against the wind, and so it may be seen rolling overand over, clutching at the grass with the second and third pairsof legs, but never for a moment relaxing its hold of its prey. The present species is almost entirely black. There is a tuftof yellow hairs on its head, and its legs are yellow, but theselatter are nearly concealed by the long black hairs with whichthey are covered. A ridge of yellow hair runs along both edgesof the thorax. The wings are shining Fig. 502.—Laphria horrida.(Black, with yellow wings.) TOO INSECTS ABROAD. On Plate XX. Fig 4 is seen an insect called Phcllus ylaucus,an inhabitant of Western Australia. The specimen from whichthe figure was drawn is in Mr. Saunders collection. The colour of the thorax is black, fringed with pale yellowhairs. The ground colour of the abdomen is bright deep blue,clothed with short black hairs. The first two segments are alsocovered with long, thick, yellow down. The legs are black andcovered with short black hairs, changing to tawny at the endsof the tarsi. The wings are blackish brown at the base, and therest is grey, traversed with black veins. I presume that the accompanying insect derives its specificname from the colours which it wears, which are those of thetraditional stage demons. It is a native of Brazil. Nearly the whole ofthe insect is black, andit is entirely covere
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectinsects, bookyear1883
