Chapter XIV: Introduction (12)

The BIBIONIDAE are medium sized flies with thickset bodies somewhat hairy; smoky wings; robust legs; short antennae; and three ocelli. The females deposit their eggs in dung or vegetable matter, and the maggots have rows of transverse bristles on the segments; and traces of eyes can be found in the head segment. The perfect flies are sluggish in their movements and are commonly found upon flowers. Twelve species have been described from Australia, of which _Bibio imitator_ is our commonest species; it is very abundant in the early summer upon the flower heads of _Astrotricha floccosa_, which grows in most of the valleys round Sydney; it has a wide range from Tasmania northwards in similar forest country. The male is under ½ an inch in length and is of a uniform black tint, with the thorax dull red; while the larger female is of a uniform reddish brown, and both sexes have the typical dark clouded wings.

The South American Genus _Plecia_ is represented by four species, two of which I collected in North Queensland. The North American Genus _Scatopse_, the larvae of which breed in all kinds of decaying matter and in sewers, is represented by two species, of which _Scatopse fenestralis_ is so common about Sydney that Skuse says: “In the spring months it is scarcely possible to find a window without one or two specimens, while I have frequently seen hundreds swarming on the inside of shop windows in the city.”

Family 3. Mosquitoes.

CULICIDAE.

No insect pests are better known or more world wide in their distribution than mosquitoes. As might be expected, they are abundant in tropical countries, yet one would hardly expect them to be much of an annoyance in the temperate regions. Yet in Lapland, and even farther north, they worry the inhabitants and the reindeer all through their brief summer.

Family CULCIIDAE.

1. _Culex fatigens_ (Wiedermann). Larva.
2. _Culex fatigens_ (Wiedermann). ♀.
3. _Culex fatigens_ (Wiedermann). Wing.
4. _Anopheles annulipes_ (Walker). ♀.
5. _Anopheles annulipes_ (Walker). Wing.]

They are insects with long slender legs; delicate narrow wings folded down over an elongate body; the head is provided with a proboscis projecting below. The proboscis is adapted for sucking blood, though many of the bush species seldom or never taste blood and obtain their nutriment from the sap or moisture upon plants. The male mosquito is a more delicate creature than the female, furnished with plumose antennae; he does not bite, but hides away in dark sheltered corners taking no food in his short life of four or five days, but has a low droning hum, noticeable when a number are disturbed. The larger females on the other hand swarm into the house, and bite whenever they get the chance. She lays her eggs in little boat shaped masses of elongate eggs, which within 24 hours give birth to larvae that are often called water-fleas or “wrigglers.” Thread-like in form at first, the “wriggler” has a rounded ciliate head, and the tip of the body is provided with a pair of tubular breathing appendages. They move about with a series of jerks, always coming to the surface head downward; they increase in size rapidly and in seven or eight days are full grown, when they change into pupae, the creatures becoming quite different; the head and thorax are drawn up into a rounded mass with two trumpet shaped horns, which are its new breathing tubes, rising upon the sides. The abdominal segments are short and turn downward; and though it does wriggle slightly, it usually rests in an upright position floating close to the surface; it remains in this state for two or three days, when the pupal skin splits along the top of the head, and the perfect insect emerges, using the floating skin as a raft from which to rise into the air and fly away.

Only 9 species of mosquitoes had been described from Australia when Skuse commenced his work on these insects in the Macleay Museum Collections (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1889), where he listed all the known species and added 19 new ones. Since then Theobald, in his “Monograph of the Culicidae of the World” 1900–1903, with a great deal more material to study, revised the genera, made several of Skuse’s species synonymous, and described others, bringing our list to about 34 species.

The typical Genus _Culex_ contains 21 species scattered all over Australia; several are cosmopolitan and have been introduced from abroad. Our common house mosquito, that appears in the early summer, is _Culex albo-annulatus_, a moderate sized species with the reddish thorax densely clothed with brownish golden scales, traversed by five very fine lines; it has regularly white banded legs. It was described by Macquart in 1732, and ranges from Southern Queensland to Sydney, Mittagong, and the Blue Mountains N.S.W. _Culex fatigans_ is widely distributed over Australia: _C. macleayi_ and _C. skusei_ according to Theobald are only sub-species or varieties; it is one of the cosmopolitan mosquitoes also found in America, Africa and Asia, and was probably introduced into this country in the water tanks of the old sailing vessels many years ago. After New Year a smaller, darker mosquito is the most annoying about Sydney; this has been described by Theobald under the name of _Culex marinus_; its larvae were discovered by Dr. Bancroft, Queensland, breeding in salt water. It also flourishes freely in any stagnant water left in tanks, buckets, or water-holes, and has a wide range down our eastern coast.

Four species of the Genus _Anopheles_ are found in Australia; these insects have long palpi with clubbed or spatulate tips, and dark spotted wings. _Anopheles annulipes_, described by Walker, said to be identical with Skuse’s _A. musivus_, is found about Sydney and Newcastle N.S.W. ranging northward; the members of this genus are well known as the mosquitoes that transmit the germs of malarial fever, and have a wide range over the world. The important results that have come from the study of the relation of tropical fevers to mosquito bites, have led to the collection and description of these insects from all quarters of the globe. _Mucidus alternans_, one of our largest species, is thickly clothed with grey and light brown scales and hairs which give it a striking appearance. It is a day flying species famous for its biting powers; it has a wide range; in the Maitland district N.S.W. about the Hexham swamps it is locally known as the “Hexham Grey”; in Queensland it is sometimes called the “Scotch Grey.” I have also taken it at Bourke on the Darling River N.S.W. Skuse described this species as _Culex hispidosus_, but Westwood’s name, _C. alternans_, has a prior claim.

_Stegomyia notoscriptus_ is one of the small dark mosquitoes that bite so sharply just at dusk in our gardens around Sydney in midsummer, and has a wide range from Adelaide S.A. to Queensland. It belongs to the same genus as the dreaded Cuban Yellow-fever Mosquito, _Stegomyia fasciata_, which has been introduced into Hawaii. Theobald has in the last volume of his Monograph formed a new Genus _Skusea_ for the reception of two Queensland species and a third from Africa.

Family 4. Sand-flies.

CHIRONOMIDAE.

This group comprises a number of small flies which have the head furnished with a fleshy proboscis; the slender antennae adorned with fine hairs, thickest upon the male; and the ocelli wanting. Their wings are usually narrow; and many of the large species have the general appearance of mosquitoes.

The members of this family are very extensive and world-wide in their range; the larvae of the typical Genus _Chironomus_ live chiefly in stagnant water. They sometimes swarm in such numbers in the North American lakes that they form the chief food of the fresh-water fish. In England on account of their colour they are known as “blood-worms.” Some species live in salt water, and others breed in excrement and dung. The perfect insects are easily collected with a sweeping net in the vicinity of swamps and watercourses.

Skuse has described 64 species from Australia (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1889), previous to which only 8 species, described by Messrs. Walker and Macquart, had been recorded. The family is divided into a number of genera, of which _Chironomus_ includes 21 species of the more typical slender-bodied midges, and the Genus _Ceratopogon_ 17 species of our vicious “Sand-flies.” These pests are also found in Great Britain and in North America, ranging as far south as Chili.

_Ceratopogon molestes_, described by Skuse, is our common “Sand-fly,” though there are others probably quite as annoying if not so abundant. It is a tiny little dark coloured midge, so quiet and small that it is usually felt before it is seen. There is another very large grey “Sand-fly” I have met with in the interior of N.S. Wales on the Darling River that frequents grassy watercourses and flies straight at the hands or face like a wasp.

It has been reported from Central Queensland that after the great flood and abundant growth of grass (1905) the sand-flies increased in such numbers, that they caused the blindness and death of a great number of marsupials, through biting them in the eyes.

Family 5. Crane-flies.

TIPULIDAE.

The Crane-flies or Daddy-longlegs are a large family with long slender legs, from which they take their popular names, and might be described as exaggerated mosquitoes that do not bite. They have the usual small head and long thread-like antennae (in some groups the latter are clothed with long hairs, in others short and feathered); in most species the ocelli are wanting. The thorax has a V-shaped transverse suture, and the well developed wings have a complete venation. They are to be found in all situations among low scrub, but prefer the shelter of cliffs, or tree trunks in damp gullies, often resting in considerable numbers in retired spots during the day, where they can easily be captured. They require to be killed and mounted in the place of capture to secure good specimens, as their legs drop off very readily, and on this account are not a popular group with the ordinary collector. The larvae live in the ground or among decaying vegetable matter.

They are divided into two large groups, characterised by the possession of long or short palpi, the _Tipulidae brevipalpi_ and _Tipulidae longipalpi_; about 20 species had been recorded from Australia when Skuse’s Monograph, “Diptera of Australia Pt. VII.” (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1889) appeared; in this he added over 80 new species.

The Painted Crane-fly, _Gynoplistia bella_, described by Walker in 1835, is one of our commonest species, frequenting flowers and low scrub in the early summer months. It is a very distinctly marked black and orange yellow fly, the wings thickly barred and mottled with the former colour; and is one of the short-legged species. It has a wide range from Western Australia and Tasmania to N.S. Wales; the genus is represented by 17 described species in Australia.

The Long-horned Crane-fly, _Macromastix costalis_, has a wide range from Tasmania to Queensland. In the neighbourhood of Sydney they are commonly found resting among the low scrub. It has a uniform dull brown tint with clear transparent wings, striped along the front margin with dull brown, and can be easily recognised from its large size, with the long slender antennae three times the length of the wings in the male, and its curious darting flight when disturbed. It was described by Swederus as _Tipula costalis_ in 1787, and has been renamed half a dozen times since. _Clytocosmus helmsi_ was described by Skuse from specimens obtained at Mt. Kosciusko; it is a large handsome fly with the stout thickened abdomen black, and bordered or mottled along the segments with white; the wings are semitransparent shaded with yellow; the head and thorax are reddish yellow.

The Genus _Semnotes_ contains two very large and handsome crane-flies, both of which were originally described by Westwood. They are giants of the family, with a large thorax, and swollen abdomen narrowed slightly into a waist, coming out broad and rounded to the tip; the general colour is bright yellow mottled with black, with semitransparent wings. _Semnotes ducalis_ has dark markings on the wing, and is the rarer species. It is recorded by Westwood from North Australia, and by Skuse from Manly, N.S.W. _S. imperatoria_ is found in Victoria, about Sydney and the Blue Mountains N.S.W.; it is slightly larger than the former, and can be easily distinguished by the very long tarsi, the plain wings, and the different markings on the body.

Family 6. Soldier Flies.

STRATIOMYIDAE.

These are flat-bodied flies with narrow strongly veined wings; 3-jointed antennae; and the pronotum furnished with slender spines. Comstock has called them “Soldier Flies” on account of the bright coloured stripes with which many species are marked. The larvae of most of these flies live in decaying vegetable matter, but some are known to be carnivorous in their habits.

_Neoexaireta spinigera_ is one of our commonest species, often to be found in the early summer months resting on the window pane with its broad hind legs flattened out; it is very easily captured. It is a slender shining black fly about 1 inch in length, with banded legs; the sides of the body fringed with white hairs, and the apical half of the wings clouded with black enclosing a small white blotch; the pronotum is furnished with four slender spines standing out from the hind margin. The larvae are usually found under damp rotting bark or decaying vegetable matter, and are elongate flattened brownish and distinctly segmented creatures, with narrow horny heads standing out in front like a stalk; they are sluggish creatures with very little movement. I figured and described a species (doubtfully) under the name of _Ephippium albitarsis_ in my “Entomology of the Grass-trees” (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1896) with somewhat similar larvae breeding in the decaying stems of these trees. The little black fly measures about ⅓ of an inch in length; it has white tarsi and dusky wings; the pronotum has the usual short spine on either side; and the legs are stout. _Odontomyia stylata_ is an elongate, broad, flattened, bronzy green fly with the outer edges of the abdomen light green; and the long pointed wings are folded down over the back; the head is very broad; the rounded thorax is long, furnished with two small spines behind the pronotum, and the abdomen is broadly rounded at the tip. It is a common rather large fly about ½ an inch in length, usually found resting on foliage in damp places. It has a wide range over Australia. In other parts of the world these flies are numerous, and about 1,000 species of the family have been described.

Family 7. March Flies.

TABANIDAE.

These flies are large or moderate sized insects, with broad heads furnished with a fleshy proboscis well adapted for biting; the 4-jointed antennae stand out in front of the head and do not terminate in a bristle; in the male the large eyes meet in front, but in the female are separated; the wings are large, often long, and well adapted for flight; the legs moderately stout; and the abdomen long, broad, and somewhat flattened.

They are common in the early summer months in open forest country, and are popularly known in Australia as “March Flies”; in England and America they usually go under the name of “Horse or Gad Flies,” and are a great pest to both man and horse; they are so persistent in their endeavours to bite and suck up blood that they are very easily captured with the hand.

The larvae of TABANIDAE live in damp earth, or are found in water; they are carnivorous, feeding upon larvae and pond snails. The flies deposit their eggs in bunches on herbage or low shrubs. These flies are very interesting from an economic point of view, for they are said to be sometimes responsible for outbreaks of anthrax by introducing the bacillus when biting. Some years ago an outbreak of malignant pustules on cattle in New Caledonia was said to have been traced to an undetermined species of _Pangonia_ (Megnin and Germain, Bulletin Soc. Ent. France Vol. viii. ser. 5).

The Genus _Pangonia_ is well represented in this country by many large handsome flies that differ from the typical _Tabanus_ in having ocelli, and the third joint of the antennae elongate instead of compressed. _Pangonia guttata_ was figured by Donovan in his “Insects of New Holland”; it measures over 1 inch in length, and is broad in proportion; its general colour is black, clothed with little tufts of white downy hairs fringing the thorax in front of the wings, and forming a band round the outer edge, with similar spots down the centre of the abdominal segments; the under-surface is variegated with longer white and black hairs, and the wings are clouded with black. This large handsome fly is common in the coastal forests, usually found resting on tree trunks in the heat of the day. _P. rufovittata_ is a smaller more showy insect of a dull yellow colour. The eyes, parallel markings on the thorax, and broad transverse bands on the abdomen of black, the alternate abdominal bands of beautiful golden hairs, together with the yellow clouded wings, give it a very striking appearance; it also has a wide range over Australia, and is occasionally taken in the neighbourhood of Sydney. _P. auriflus_, about ½ an inch in length, also black, has the face, front of thorax, under-surface and outer margins of the abdomen clothed with silvery hairs, while the hind margin of the thorax, a blotch in the centre, and the tip of the abdomen are richly coloured with bright yellow hairs. _P. concolor_, a much larger fly, is of a uniform reddish brown colour, with black eyes, and mottled wings; _P. violacea_ is a small bright metallic violet tinted insect not unlike a blue bottle fly, but is easily distinguished when the antennae are examined.

The Genus _Tabanus_ contains many of the typical “March Flies”: _Tabanus brevidentatus_ measures ½ an inch in length; is of a uniform grey ash colour, with the hind edges of the abdominal segments barred with light brown. _T. edentulus_ is a slightly larger, darker coloured fly with greyer bands on the body; it is common on the slopes of Mt. Kosciusko. _T. abstersus_ is still larger and darker, but with the same general colour; the head and under-surface are clothed with white hairs; the wings clouded; the base and sides of the abdomen reddish brown with the dorsal surface barred with fine white hairs. _T. sanguinarius_, one of the largest species, is of a uniform reddish brown, with black eyes; the thorax tinted with yellow; and the wings clouded. It has a wide range over Queensland and N.S. Wales. _Silvius angusta_ is like a very small specimen of _Tabanus brevidentatus_.

The members of the small Family LEPTIDAE are distinguished from the preceding one, in having the third joint of the antennae simple and furnished with a bristle, and the tibiae spined. The curious looking larvae have the abdomen divided into two points at the tip; they live in pits like the ant-lions. _Leptis aequalis_ is a greyish looking species about the size of a house fly, with the head composed of two large globular eyes touching in the centre; the legs are long; the wings smoky; the elongated abdomen rounded at the tip, and barred with black; the whole insect clothed with scattered hairs standing up thickly on the dorsal surface. These flies are very common flying over aphis infested wheat fields; my specimens come from Molong, N.S. Wales.

Family 8. Bee-flies.

BOMBYLIDAE.

These are popularly known as bee-flies, on account of their remarkable powers of flight, and hairy appearance. They are all more or less clothed with delicate downy hairs, furnished with 3 jointed antennae, and slender legs terminating in fine claws.

They frequent flowers, hovering over them like bees; and many species have the wings richly marked with black. The life history of our species is but little known, but I have bred several out of the clay nests of wasps, and two out of lepidopterous pupae (_Agrotis sp._). A European species is said to drop her eggs upon the clay nests of wasps; the newly hatched larva is furnished with a boring apparatus in front of its head by means of which it works its way through into the chamber; there it undergoes another stage of development and emerges from it with a simple sucking mouth to eat up the wasp larva. The larva of those attacking the “cut-worms,” _Agrotis_, devours the whole of the moth grub and pupates inside the chrysalid skin. The pupa is a very curious looking creature enclosed in a dark brown shining skin about ¾ of an inch long, with projecting spines on the head and extremity. The body is cylindrical with the first 7 segments furnished with a band of rasp-like spines or ridges on the dorsal surface, with which it moves round and round when touched. _Anthrax nigricosta_ is a handsome little black fly, with the head, under surface of the body, and two bands across the abdomen fringed with white down. The wings are deeply marked with black on the front margin, widest at the base. It measures about ½ an inch in length, and comes from Queensland. _Comptosia albo-fasciata_ is a large black fly shaded with fine reddish hairs on the dorsal surface of the body; the wings are brown, very long, with white tips; the body measures about ¾, and across the outspread wings 1½ inches. _Neuria quadripennis_ is a much smaller, but somewhat similar looking fly, with the dorsal surface and margins of the body more hairy; each wing is darkly clouded, with the base light, and the tip white. Both these species are not uncommon in New South Wales.

_Acreotrichus gibbicornis_ is a beautiful little black fly with brown eyes; not much over ¼ of an inch long; the elongate antennae and head are clothed with tufts of black and white down; the rest of the body is enveloped in long silvery white down. _A. fuscicornis_ is of a rich violet black tint, a yellow line round the hind margin of the head, and a broader band round the dorsal margin of the thorax of a similar colour; the broad rounded abdomen is lightly banded with pubescence. These flies were taken in numbers hovering over the flowers of plum-trees in an orchard near Sydney.

Family 9. Bladder Flies.

ACROCERIDAE.

These are very curious looking flies with such very small round heads, that at first sight one would think that they were broken off; but on closer examination the little knobs in front will be found to consist of two large eyes joining together on the inner edge, with small, 2 or 3 jointed antennae. Nothing is known about the larval habits of our species, but in Europe they are parasitic on spiders or their cocoons.

The members of the Genus _Pterodontia_ have the body inflated like a bladder; we have several species in Australia, generally found resting on twigs or tree trunks. _Pterodontia mellii_ measures under ½ an inch in length; the thorax and body are swollen out like a bladder; it is of a general black colour, with a mark on the back, the fore legs, and a large blotch on either side of the body bright ochreous yellow; but the dark portions are thickly clothed with fine black downy hairs like a bumble bee. The wings on account of the swollen body look much smaller than they really are. I have specimens from Queensland, and Hunter River N.S.W., and they probably have a wide range.

_Panops flavipes_ is a very curious looking fly from Moruya, N.S. Wales, measuring over ½ an inch in length; it is of a general dark bronzy black tint thickly clothed with fine down, silvery on the tip of the abdomen. The head is very small, black and shining, with the thickened cylindrical antennae standing out in front; the thorax, swollen out behind the head, has a large angular white patch on either side; the abdomen not quite as thick as the thorax is deeply corrugated. The wings have the front half deeply clouded and the hind portion transparent.

_Acrodes fumatus_ is a much smaller species about ⅕ of an inch in length; the head and thorax are black; the bladder shaped abdomen is tawny yellow, with parallel stripes of black down the centre and sides, and transverse white bars at the apex of each segment. They were collected in numbers about Cook’s River, near Sydney.

Family 10. Mydas Flies.

MYDAIDAE.

These might be called “mimic flies,” because, with their large thickened antennae (often swollen out into a compressed club at the tips), their broad heads, elongated bodies, and bright variegated black and yellow markings, they can be very easily mistaken at first sight for Pompilid wasps. The mimicry is further emphasised by the thickened spined legs, and coloured wings.

We have a number of species in Australia; they are allied to the “Robber-flies” which some of them resemble. The larvae of foreign species are predaceous, feeding upon the grubs of various wood-boring beetles.

_Mydas fulvipennis_ has the greater part of the head, thorax, under surface of the abdomen, and thighs black; with the face, antennae, legs, wings and rest of the abdomen except two indistinct narrow bars, bright reddish yellow. It measures over ¾ of an inch in length, and is of the usual elongate robust form with long clubbed antennae and thickened legs. My specimens come from Southern Queensland.

Family MUSCIDAE.

1. _Chaetogaster violacea_ (Macq.).

Family TABANIDAE.

2. _Pangonia guttata_ (Donov.).
6. _Pangonia auriflus_ (Donov.).
14. _Tabanus abstersus_ (Walk.).
7. _Lamprogaster laeta_ (Guérin).

Family ASILIDAE.

3. _Asilis grandis_ (Macq.).
8. _Craspedia coriaria_ (Wied.).
12. _Phellus glaucus_ (Walk.).
13. _Blepharotes splendissima_ (Wied.).

Family DIOPSIDAE.

4. _Zygotricha sp._

Family BOMBYLIDAE.

5. _Comptosia albo-fasciata_ (Thomp.).
11. _Trichophthalma eques_ (Sch.).

Family DEXIIDAE.

9. _Rutilia decora_ (Guérin).
10. _Amphibolia fulvipes_ (Guérin).

(Original photo. Burton.)]

Family 11. Robber-flies.

ASILIDAE.

This group is well represented in Australia by some very large handsome robber-flies which attack and kill many insects larger than themselves, transfixing them with their horny bayonet-like proboscis. The large projecting eyes forming the greater part of the head are well separated from the thorax; the three jointed antennae stand out at an angle from each other; the legs are long, stout, and covered with stiff hairs well adapted for holding their prey; they have more or less clouded wings; and a slender, rather cylindrical body tapers to a blunt tip in the female, but in the male terminates in a pair of pincer-like processes. It is an extensive family, over 3,000 species being described from all parts of the world; they are very numerous in America, where one is a very serious pest to honey bees. Their larvae live in the ground and are predaceous, feeding upon the larvae of other insects, particularly those of beetles.

The members of the Genus _Dasypogon_ are small delicate flies that cling to grass stalks, and are easily taken with a sweeping net; they have the typical form of the family, and their slender bodies taper to a point. _Laphria diversipes_ is a common insect about Sydney often taken on fences; it is slightly over ½ an inch in length; its general colour is black, with stout reddish brown legs variegated with black. The head is clothed with stiff grey hairs, the upper surface mottled with golden pubescence, and scattered black hairs. _Laphria rufifemorata_ is a somewhat large insect from Queensland, with the abdomen of a deep metallic blue. _Leptogaster geniculatus_ is a remarkably slender bodied fly, about the same length, found about the Blue Mountains N.S.W. The head is short but wide across; the thorax is oval, and the linear abdomen swells out slightly to the apex; the legs are long and slender, the hind pair with the thighs swollen in the centre. The general colour is shining black with the legs marked with white.

The typical Genus _Asilis_ contains some handsome flies generally met with in open forest country: _Asilis inglorius_, over 1 inch in length, has large black eyes; the front of the head is clothed with grey bristles; the thorax is olive green, marbled with grey pubescence, thickest on the ventral surface; the legs are red, the tarsi black; and the wings are clouded with yellow; the abdomen is much elongated to the pointed tip, reddish brown, the first 3 segments thickly clothed with long, pale, golden, downy hairs, and with the terminal segments covered with very short reddish brown hairs. _A. plicatus_ is slightly larger, of a general greyish brown tint, with pale reddish brown markings on the thorax; the legs are darker brown; the abdomen is lightly clothed with fine scattered grey hairs. _A. fulvitarsus_ is a much smaller species of a somewhat uniform buff tint, inclined to a golden tint on the lower portion of the abdomen; the face is clothed with grey and buff hairs, and the wings are light brown.

_Blepharotes splendidissma_ is a very handsome fly with the abdomen flattened, broad, and almost heart shaped; it measures nearly 1½ inches in length, and 2½ across the outspread wings. It is of a general black colour with the abdomen of a shining bronzy green tint; the face is clothed with yellow bristles; the thorax has grey pubescence on the sides, and the outer margins and tip of abdomen are fringed with tufts of yellow and black downy hairs. I have frequently captured it flying about in the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, in the early summer. _Phellus glaucus_ is a very curious fly found in the interior of Western Australia; it measures nearly 2 inches from the front of the head to the tip of the wings; a great tuft of bright yellow hairs stand out in front of the head; it is thickly clothed on the under-surface of the head with pale yellow hairs; the legs are very stout and hairy, and clothed with black down marked with white and large yellow tufts on the hind legs. The abdomen is thickened, elongated and broadly rounded to the tip, of a uniform deep metallic blue tint, but so thickly clothed with short black down that its rich colour is somewhat obscured. _Craspedia coriaria_ is one of our largest robber-flies, widely distributed all over the interior of the continent; its mouth is produced into a stout pointed awl-like process, with which it can pierce the integument of the stoutest insect, and it can be often seen flying along with its beak buried in the back of a large cockchafer beetle (_Anoplognathus_), and with its large legs clasping its victim as it sucks up its blood. Its general colour is black, with the broad, flattened, more elongate abdomen thickly clothed with short brick-red hairs; the legs and under surface are very hairy, with tufts of stiff black hairs fringing the outer edges of the abdominal segments. The wings are opaque and almost black, with an expanse of about 3 inches.

_Saropogon princeps_, described by Macquart, has a large reddish brown wasp-like form that at first sight might be easily mistaken for a Pompilid wasp. It measures 1½ inches in length, with a wing expanse of about 3 inches. The head, under-surface, centre of the thorax above, the basal segment, and two bands on the abdomen are black; the rest is dull red, with the hind margin of the wings hyaline. I have a specimen from Mittagong N.S. Wales. _Brachyrhopala ruficornis_ comes from Mackay, Queensland, and has a very wasp-like appearance both in the colouration and shape of the body. It is under ½ an inch in length with the typical robber-fly head and spiny legs, but the abdomen is contracted into a cylindrical waist behind the thorax, rounded in the centre, and tapered to the tip. The head and thorax are almost black; the hind margin of the latter and legs are dull red; the abdomen is dull yellow with the basal segments marked with blackish brown, forming two almost confluent bands round the broad centre.

Family 12. False Robber-flies.

APIOCERIDAE.

These flies are of medium size not unlike _Muscidae_, with large elongated bodies, short antennae, and clear wings. This is a small family containing two genera, the species of which are peculiar to North America, Chili, and Australia.

_Apiocera bigotii_, described by Macquart, is about ¾ of an inch in length; it has a short head not so wide as the thorax, with a long projecting proboscis; the elongate broadly rounded thorax is truncated behind; the abdomen is broadest in front, rounded, and tapers to the tip, which terminates in a tuft of fine spines. The wings are somewhat iridescent with reddish veins; the general colour of the fly is a dull brown, with white hairs and silvery pubescence clothing the hind portion of the head and under-surface of the thorax, and also mottling the dorsal surface of the body with grey. Some specimens in my possession come from the Shoalhaven district. _Apiocera asilica_ described by Westwood is a larger much darker insect, with black hairs on the upper surface and grey on the under surface; it ranges from Queensland to the Blue Mountains N.S.W.

Family 13. Big-eyed Flies.

PIPUNCULIDAE.

These are tiny little creatures with very large heads consisting almost entirely of two great hemispherical eyes. The short antenna terminates in a bristle.

About 80 species had been described, chiefly from Europe, until Perkins published the descriptions of 26 species from Australia (Leaf Hoppers and their natural enemies Pt. iv. Pipunculidae) Hawaii 1905.

They are remarkable for their habits in the larval state, being parasitic upon the larvae and pupae of frog-hoppers, chiefly Jassidae, particularly those Homoptera that have the tip of the abdomen clothed with waxy filaments. When full grown the dipterous larvae leave their host and bury themselves in the soil, where they pupate. Mr. Koebele allowed me to examine the collection he made of these little flies before they were described by Mr. Perkins. Many of these he reared from infested frog-hoppers in Queensland when studying sugar-cane pests.

_Pipunculus helluo_ was observed swarming round the larvae of _Siphanta_, which were abundant on fig trees near Bundaberg Queensland; this species was also taken by Koebele near Sydney. _P. cinerascens_ is remarkable in the larval form, as it does not fall to the ground and pupate in the soil, but forms its puparium upon the surface of the living leaves in the open. _P. cruciator_ comes from the district of Cairns, N. Queensland.

Family 14. Hover Flies.

SYRPHIDAE.

Several species are well known and common in gardens, where they are popularly known under the name of “Bee” or “Hover Flies” from a way they have of poising, apparently motionless, over flowers and aphid-infested bushes, for the movement of their wings is so rapid as scarcely to be detected. The perfect flies, which among the carnivorous species have slender bodies more or less barred or banded with yellow, lay their eggs upon aphis-infested plants; the young larvae emerging from the white eggs feed exclusively upon aphids and plant lice; the full-grown larva is legless, very elongate in form, and has great powers for extending and contracting its abdominal segments, so that the body, from a rounded mass, can extend into a long and slender form. The full-grown larva pupates in an oval hard chrysalid which usually falls to the ground.

The typical Genus _Syrphus_ is well represented in Australia by several fine species, all of which are aphid eaters, and fly about in the bright sunshine but shelter among the foliage at other times; whenever aphis appear the syrphid flies soon follow, and I have seen them round the aphid-infested briar bushes in countless thousands. _Syrphus pusillus_, figured in the Agricultural Gazette N.S.W. 1904 under the name of _Syrphus viridiceps_, is our commonest species found upon aphis-infested rose bushes, orchard trees, and wheat fields. It measures about ⅓ of an inch in length; has large reddish eyes, yellow face, and dull metallic green thorax with yellow scutellum; the darker abdomen is banded with three interrupted transverse yellow bands, and smaller marks on the apical segments. _S. viridiceps_ is a more slender form, with a green face; the whole of the thorax is shining lead colour, with fine yellow bands on the abdomen; the legs are dark, and the whole fly is lightly clothed with fine hairs. Both these species may be taken on the same bush, and both have a very wide range over Australia.

A common Hover-fly that destroys rose and peach aphis.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

The Drone or Bee Fly, _Eristalis tenax_, is another common garden fly with a very wide range, and is an introduced European species. It measures over ½ an inch in length and is broad in proportion; the head and thorax are clothed with yellowish brown down, and the smooth shining abdomen is mottled with black and brown. The larvae are dirty white maggots with slender rat-tails at the tip of the body, and they live in all kinds of rotten or semi-liquid refuse.

_Helophilus bengalensis_ is a smaller, robust fly with rounded eyes; the thorax is richly barred with parallel grey lines on the dorsal surface; and there are two large lunate yellow spots at the basal portion of the abdomen. The lower part of the abdomen tapers to a rounded tip and is clothed with yellow down. This fly was originally described from Bengal by Wiedemann; Schiner has reported it from Batavia; my specimens come from Queensland. _H. griseus_ was described and its life history given in my “Entomology of the Grass-trees” (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1896) under the name of _Orthoprosopa nigra_. The larvae, elongate in form, with a short anal tubular tail, swarm in great numbers between the outer shell and the caudex of the dead rotting trunk of the grass-trees among the slime and water. They pupate in the damp earth in captivity, forming a light brown oval case with the remains of the larval tail shortened and retracted. This handsome black fly, over ½ an inch in length, has the face and antennae bright yellow; the dorsal surface clothed with fine black pubescence; the scutellum smooth and shining; the sides fringed with scattered grey hairs; and the wings clouded. There is a second species found in similar situations; the larvae have the typical slender rat-tails, and when they pupate transform the tail into a curved tubular process at the extremity of the chrysalis.

The Drone or Bee-fly; usually found upon flowers.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

_Sphiximorpha australis_, from Southern Queensland, is a very curious broad thickset black and yellow fly, with spatulate tipped antennae standing out in front of the two large eyes; the head is slightly larger than the thorax, which is stout and thickened; and the broad abdomen is rounded at the extremity. The general colour is black, with the face, three spots on the sides of the thorax, scutellum, apical portion of legs, and two bands on the abdomen rich yellow. The wings are clear, except a dark stripe along the front margin. This curious fly has a striking resemblance to some of the yellow banded mud-nest wasps (_Odynerus_ and _Alastor_), but the reason for their bright colouration and abnormal shape is at present unknown.

Family 15. Wasp-flies.

CONOPIDAE.

These are handsome flies of moderate size, many of which are very wasp-like in the shape of the abdomen and in general colouration; they have the proboscis prolonged but usually drawn up and hidden; the 3-jointed antennae inserted in front of the head are close together at the base, with the first joint very short. Comstock says that the larva of _Conops_ is a soft whitish 11-jointed flask-shaped grub, with a long neck and mouth armed with lips and hooks (mandibles) and two lateral elevated plates supporting the two spiracles. It was found by Lachat and Audouin living in the body of a _Bombus_. Most of the members of this family are found as parasites upon different bees and wasps; the flies deposit their eggs upon the perfect insects; the larva bores into the abdomen, feeds upon the contents, and finally pupates in the shell of the body. They are considered by most writers to be allied to the _Syrphidae_.

This is a small family in regard to numbers of species, but they are widely distributed: Van der Wulp lists 14 species of the Genus _Conops_ from South Asia, including the Malay Archipelago (Cat. Described Diptera 1896), and others have since been described.

_Conops pica_, described by Macquart from Australia, is found in the Mittagong district, N.S.W. It is slightly over ¼ of an inch in length; has large lance-tipped antennae standing out in front; a large head; the abdomen very slender at the base swelling out to a broadly rounded tip, giving it a striking resemblance to the small “mud-nest wasps.” This resemblance is further borne out by its general dark brown colour marked and banded with yellow, which upon the abdomen forms two broad bands, a spot on the sides, and a large rounded blotch on the extreme tip; the legs are banded, and the wings are striped in front with brown.

Family 16. Fruit Flies, Leaf Mining Flies, &c.

MUSCIDAE ACALYPTRATA.

Under this heading Sharp places a large division of closely related flies comprising 29 families, which he treats in a very brief manner; we have a large number of interesting species in some of these families that are worthy of notice, for some of them are very serious pests to the gardener and orchardist. Sharp says: “Taken collectively, they may be defined as small flies with 3-jointed antennae (frequently looking as if only 2-jointed) bearing a bristle that is not terminally placed; frequently either destitute of squamae or hairy, these imperfectly developed so as not to cover the halteres; and possessing a comparatively simple system of neuration, the chief nervures being straight, so that consequently few cells are formed.”

The DIOPSIDAE comprise in the typical Genus _Diopsis_ some very curious looking flies, rather slender in form, with narrow wings, and the sides of the head produced into an elongate stalk, at the tip of which is placed the rounded eye, reminding one of the stalk-eyed crabs. Westwood monographed this genus in the Transactions of the Linnean Society 1835, where he figured and described 21 species from Africa, India and Java. I have two very fine species from North Queensland, belonging to the Genus _Zygotricha_, and a number of allied forms placed in the Genus _Achias_ by Van der Wulp (Catalogue of the Described Diptera from South Asia 1896) recorded from New Guinea. The Stalk-eyed fly, _Zygotricha sp._, measures nearly ½ an inch in length, with the eyes measuring over ¼ of an inch from tip to tip; its general colour is yellowish brown, the face bright yellow; eyes black; thorax finely striped with grey; wings mottled; the curious angulated abdomen shining with metallic tints, and tipped with stout hairs.

The cosmopolitan “Skipper” in cheese, is the larva of _Piophila casei_; it pupates in a slender dark chrysalid; the small slender dark fly swarms round over-ripe cheese, fat, and other dried foods.

The little “Fruit Flies” belonging to the DROSOPHILIDAE, sometimes also known as “wine flies” from their habit of swarming round the freshly-filled wine casks, lay their eggs in decaying vegetable matter; they are often attracted to over-ripe fruit, and by their presence sometimes cause it to decay; they are common all over the world. The maggots sometimes found among pickles in vinegar and brine belong to flies of this group. _Drosophila obscura_, a tiny light brown fly with a dark coloured head, breeds in damaged tomatoes.

1. Showing the jaws of the larva; 2. adult fly enlarged;
3. larva; 4. chrysalid; 5. tip of the abdomen showing the
breathing orifices; 6. fly natural size.]

The TRYPETIDAE comprise the true “fruit flies,” many of them very handsome little creatures; some of them form regular galls in the twigs of plants; others with their needle-like ovipositors puncture the ripening fruit, depositing their eggs beneath the skin; the maggots cause the fruit to rot, often before it can be gathered, and thus do a great deal of damage in Australian orchards. The Queensland Fruit-fly, _Dacus (Tephritis) tryoni_, ranges from Queensland (where it probably originally infested native bush fruits) into N.S. Wales, and is now a serious orchard pest in both States. It is a dull brown insect marked with yellow, about the size of a large house fly, with a rather wasp-shaped body, and large transparent wings. I have described several other allied species coming into Australia from the Islands in damaged fruit, “Notes on Fruit-maggot Flies with Descriptions of New Species” (Agr. Gazette N.S. Wales 1899). _Dacus (Tephritis) psidii_ was bred out of guavas imported from New Caledonia; it is about ¼ of an inch in length; is dull yellow, with the thorax distinctly striped, and the abdomen black; the transparent wings are thickly mottled with brown. Tryon says that it is a common fruit-fly pest in Queensland, damaging bananas and other fruits. _Trypeta musae_ was obtained from bananas brought from the New Hebrides: it is a slightly larger fly, with the head and thorax dull yellow; it has no distinct dorsal stripe on the thorax, and the wings are very thickly mottled. _T. bicolor_ is a larger native species with reddish brown head and thorax; with black body; with beautifully mottled black wings having the base and sides unclouded. I have taken it on the trunks of wattle trees near Bathurst, N.S. Wales. The “Mediterranean Fruit Fly,” _Ceratitis (Halterophora) capitata_, first recorded from oranges brought from the Azores to London, was described by Macleay in 1826; it has a wide range, and was introduced into New South Wales some years ago; it is now one of the most serious pests that orchardists have to fight. It is a smaller more thickset fly than the Queensland pest, with the thorax dark metallic brown, and the wings richly variegated. The male is remarkable in having a pair of spatulate hairs, like a second pair of antennae, springing out in front between the eyes. _Trypeta poenia_ is a tiny little fly with a grey pubescence over the thorax and abdomen; the thorax is finely mottled, and the delicate wings are very finely but thickly marked with dark brown; I have taken this species when beating the low scrub in the western country round Condobolin, N.S. Wales. _Lonchaea splendida_ is a very brilliant metallic green fly with pale smoky wings; it is smaller than a house fly, with a much more elongated body; its larvae infest decaying tomatoes, potatoes, egg-fruit and other solanums; it has a wide range from the Pacific Islands and New Zealand, over Australia.

The family ORTALIDAE is represented here by a very handsome species, _Ortalis coerulea_; it is about the size of a house fly, with deep metallic blue thorax and banded black abdomen; the transparent wing is clouded with black at the base and the tip, and has a black V-shaped band in the centre. It is very common in summer usually resting on the foliage of the grass-trees, and can be easily captured with a net. _Lamprogaster laeta_ is another fine species, with a wide range from Victoria to Queensland. It measures nearly ½ an inch from the front of the head to the tip of the body; the large semitransparent wings are blotched along the front with black. The dorsal surface and curious angular abdomen are deep metallic blue; the legs and under-surface reddish brown. I have usually found it on the highlands, and it is common on the Blue Mountains N.S.W. in the summer months.

The AGROMYZIDAE are small yellow flies, sometimes marked with green; they puncture the tissue of plants and cause excrescences and galls upon the foliage and flower buds. One tiny species, _Agromyza sp._, attacks the midrib of the leaves of the “Blood-wood” (_Eucalyptus corymbosa_), common about Sydney; producing soft yellow spongy excrescences aborting all the young foliage. _A. phaseoli_ is a great pest to the growers of french beans in the Gosford district N.S.W.; the fly inserts her eggs in the stem of the young plant just above the surface of the ground. It is a tiny black fly, with bluish tints on the body. It was described by Coquillett (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1899) from specimens I sent to him for identification.

The French-bean fly, the larva of which feeds on the stems.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

An introduced Leaf-mining fly, and a common garden pest.

(“Agricultural Gazette,” N.S.W.)]

The PHYTOMYZIDAE are small dark coloured flies, whose larvae are leaf miners; and several species are well known pests to the gardener. _Phytomyza affinis_ breeds in the winter in the leaves of the sow thistle; the next generation swarm on the marguerites, sunflowers and many others of the _Compositae_, thereby causing them to wither and fall.

The SAPROMYZIDAE contain a great number of small flies which are generally met with resting among the foliage when sweeping or beating the scrub in the early morning. They seldom have the wings spotted, and the abdomen is broader than that of the former group. The larvae feed under the bark of trees, or among decaying vegetation. _Sapromyza fuscicornis_ is of a uniform pale brownish yellow, with dark eyes, and with scattered stout bristles on the thorax; it is a large species over ¼ of an inch in length to the tip of the closed wings. It has a wide range over Australia. _S. decora_ is a very much smaller dark brown fly, with a fine white stripe on each side of the thorax extending across the sides of the head above the eyes. It is common in summer in the orchards among the orange trees.

In the members of the Genus _Celyphus_ the scutellum is so abnormally inflated that it covers all the posterior parts of the body, so that these tiny shining black creatures are quite unlike the typical Diptera. A dark brown fly about the size of a house fly that has been described under the name of _Batrachomyia nigritarsis_ by Skuse, is a parasite in the larval state on the back of several of our common frogs, where feeding under the skin it forms a regular blister; when full grown the larva makes its way through the skin, and pupates in the damp soil.

The SCATOPHAGIDAE are slender, elongate, medium sized flies that can be bred out of dung or decaying vegetable matter, and are found in most parts of the world. _Scatophaga guerini_ measures over ⅓ of an inch in length; it is of a dull greyish brown tint, marked on the head and thorax with parallel whitish bars, thickly clothed on the stout legs with fine hairs; and the long wings are folded over the back when at rest. It has a wide range; I have it from Sydney, and have bred it from the cylindrical white maggots in “toad-stools” collected on the banks of the Darling River, N.S. Wales.

The Genus _Nerius_ (placed by Van der Wulp in the Sub-family CALOBATINAE, following the SCIOMYZINAE) is represented by two fine species common in North Queensland. They are very slender, long-legged flies, with long, straight-veined wings, rounded at the extremities, and folded over the narrow pointed abdomen; the head, which has a distinct neck, might be described as pear-shaped, with short, stout, lance-shaped antennae standing out in front, and elongate flattened eyes with a dorsal depression between them; the abdomen is elongate, oval; and both species, about the same size, measure ½ an inch in length. _Nerius inermis_, “the Banana-stalk Fly,” is of a uniform dull brown colour, with the dorsal surface of the head and thorax striped with white, and the whole of the under surface and thighs (except a brown comma-like mark on the sides) white. The slender white maggots feed in the ends of the decaying stalks of the bunches of Queensland bananas, forming elongate reddish brown chrysalids when they pupate; they are easily bred out in captivity. This species was originally described from the Nicobar Islands by Schiner; and has also been recorded from Celebes and Aroe. _N. lineolatus_, described by Wiedemann from Java, is common in North Queensland; it differs from the last species in having the dorsal surface more thickly and brightly striped with white, and the legs being barred with white.

Family 17. Anthomyia Flies.

ANTHOMYIDAE.

In general appearance they are very like the house fly, of small size and indefinite colour; they differ in the structure of the wings, and the eyes of the male are generally large and in contact; the antennae are bare or feathered. In their larval habits they vary very much: some are simply scavengers; others feed on living vegetation, and like the onion and cabbage flies are serious pests; and a few are parasitic. The family is a large one, and species are found in most parts of the world.

The common bluish fly resting on the decaying weed, and flying along in front when one is walking along the sea shore, belongs to the Genus _Lispe_; it looks like a house fly with longish legs and a pale tint.