OCR Text |
Show INSECTA. 290 . . 1 tennre are s h or t er than the head, and termmate Sometimes t 1e an . . ed on the body. . 'd 1 b The wmgs are ct oss 10 an OVOl C U • ZoDioN, Lat. Meig.( 1) . . niculate near the base, and again about There, the l)robosciS 15 ge. b derneath. The antennre are . h . xtremtty cnt un the middle, w1t 1ts e . tel· 11 a palette with a stilet. shorter than the 11 ca d ' a nd termma MYOPA, Fab. To which belongs the Russet, with a yellow front ancl blackish M. ferrugiv,ea, Fab. wings(2). M . . tl eir general form, disposition The others, Stomoxydre, etg., ~n t1 d antennre shorter than the . . their 1)alette-tet·mma e . of thetr wmgs, d . their triangular or comca1 d anied by a seta, an m head an accomp d es resemble common Flies. abdomen without external appen ag ' STo111oxvs, Geoff., Fab.(3) Where the proboscis is only geniculate near its base, and then advances directly forwards. VI · 12 13 Seta of C calcit1·ans, L.; De Geer, Insect., ' lV, ' .' . • the . antennre pl'I ose; body cinereous-grey spotte1d With blac1k , boscis shot·ter than the body. It bites our egs severe y, ~:~ticularly on the approach of rain( 4). BuoENTEs, Lat.-Stomoxys, Fab.-Siphona, Meig. ¥/here the proboscis is hi-geniculate as in Myopa( 5f.. The genus Carnus of Professor Nitzsch-Insect. ::p1zf ~ag~o·5- d E tom of Germar-which he refers to our family o t e er n ., d' ·0 nopsarire is distinguished from the prece mg ones 1 the presence (1) Lat., Gen. Crust. et Insect., 336; Meig., Dipt., xxxvu.. , l ' 7 . (2) See J:o'ab., Lat., Meig., Fall.~ &c. X SOO-have formed a (3) Messrs Lepeletier and Servllle-Encyc. Method., . ' d' on account new genus PnosENA, which they have separated from the pre~e ~~g on~ the seta of of its much longer proboscis-four times the length of the lea -an , the antenna:, which is bearded on both sides. (4) }'llb., Laf. Meig., Fall., &.c. .. 18 25 (5) Lat., Gener. Crust. et Insect., IV, 3:>• 9; Me1· g., D'1 Pt ., xxxvu ' ' · DlPTEHA. 291 of rudiments of wings. The species which set·ves as its type is figured by M. Germar in his Faun. Insect. Eur., fasc. IX, tab. 24. The direction of its proboscis, the form of its antennre and that of its body seem to indicate its proximity to Stomoxys. Our fourth and last tribe, that of the MusciDEs, is distinguished from the three preceding ones by a very apparent, always membranous and l>ilabiate proboscis, usually bearing two palpi (the Phorre alone excepted), susceptilJle of being entirely retracted within the oral cavity; and by a sucker composed of two pieces. The antennre always terminate en palette with a lateral seta. These Athericera embrace the old genus Musca of Fabricius, which the labours of Messrs Fa11en and Meigen, without mentioning our own, have greatly modified. All the difficulties however which beset its study are far from being removed; for although those gentlemen have established a great number of new genera, there are still some, Tachina and .!lnthomyia for instance, which can only be considered as general repositories. In the work of Meigen which is wholly restricted to the Diptera of Europe, the first of these genera is composed of three hundred and fifteen species, and the second of two hundred and thirteen. Dr Robineau Desvoidy, wishing to complete these researches, and to meet the demands of the science, has devoted himself with much zeal to the special study of the Muscides, which he calls Miodaires; and the Memoir on this subject, which he presented to the Royal Academy of Sciences, has been deemed worthy of insertion among those of that institution; but as that paper is not completed, and as we are only acquainted with its general divisions as given by M. de Blainville in his report to the Academy, we are unable to profit by it. Independently of this we should have been compelled to pass beyond our prescribed limits, and perhaps have terrified the young naturalist, by an exposition of the multitude of new genera he has established in this tribe, several of which, even in the opinion of the reporter, appear to differ but little from each other. We ev~n think that the work of M. Meigen, with the exception of the revision |