Diptera Danica

Abstract

THIS useful and carefully written fauna commences with a lengthy account of the structure and habits of the interesting family Asilidæ, or robber-flies, as the American entomologists call them. The author is inclined to believe that the powerful beak with which they attack their prey carries a poisonous secretion, but this remains to be proved by further observations. The systematic portion of the work is well done, the subfamilies, genera, and species being tabulated as well as described. The figures represent details, such as the head, antenna, or wing of various species, and full information is given as regards structure, habits, larvæ, distribution in Denmark and elsewhere, &c. One of the largest and handsomest of the Asilidæ, in Britain and Denmark, is Asilus crabroniformis, which is remarkable for its black and yellow colour, which gives it the distant resemblance to a hornet from which it derives its name, but this is confined to its colour, for the long, tapering Asilus differs altogether in shape from a hornet.

Diptera Danica.

Genera and Species of Flies hitherto found in Denmark. By William Lundbeck. Part ii., Asilidæ, Bombyliidæ, Therevidæ, Scenopinidæ. With 48 figures. Published at the expense of the Carlsberg Fund. (Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad; London: W. Wesley and Son, 1908.)