Insects at home; being a popular account of insects, their structure, habits and transformations . formed into an oval cocoon, as is the case with the com-mon flies and bluebottles. We can only take one example ofthis group, the Forked Chameleon Fly {Stratiomys furcata\which is represented on Woodcut LXXI. Fig. 3. In thisgenus the proboscis is very short, and the basal joint of theantennse is much longer than the second. The third joint isapparently very long, but the microscope shows that it iscomposed of several joints fused together, as may be seen byreference to Fig. h. Most of the insects
Insects at home; being a popular account of insects, their structure, habits and transformations . formed into an oval cocoon, as is the case with the com-mon flies and bluebottles. We can only take one example ofthis group, the Forked Chameleon Fly {Stratiomys furcata\which is represented on Woodcut LXXI. Fig. 3. In thisgenus the proboscis is very short, and the basal joint of theantennse is much longer than the second. The third joint isapparently very long, but the microscope shows that it iscomposed of several joints fused together, as may be seen byreference to Fig. h. Most of the insects belonging to this family are beautifullycoloured, and many of them shine with metallic tints, mostly B B 2 612 INSECTS AT HOME. tending to purple. The present species is rather variable incolouring, whence one of the three species derives the name ofChameleon. It always, however, has a velvet-black body, onwhich are a number of bold yellow patches, arranged as shownin the illustration. The legs also are yellow. There are threespecies all very much alike in colouring, and almost identical LAXi. 1, AsiliiR crabroniformis. 2. Asilns germanictis. 3. Stratiomys fnrcata. 4. Eristalistenax. a. Asilus crabroniformis, tarsus. b. Stratiomys furcata, antenna. c. Bristalistenax, antenna. in their life history. The larva of this insect is an odd-lookin^ eature, long, slender, and worm-like, with its seg-ments \ery stronglymarked, and gradually diminishing indiameter towards the tail, which is furnished with a star ofradiating hairs. As is the case with the larva of the Grnat, thatof the Chameleon-fly breathes through the end of the tail,the larva remaining suspended with its head downwards and itsstar-tipped tail at the surface. The life history of the Common TRANSFOKIVIATIONS OF THE CHAMELEON-FLY. 613 Chameleon-fly {Stratiomys Chameleon) has been so tersely andfully given by Mr. F. Walker in his Insecta Britannica, thatI cannot do better than transfer his account to these pages :— These
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1
