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True Flies — Part 3

It is surprising how little of an intimate and exact nature is known concerning the life history of most flies. It is true that maggots are not attractive creatures, but the mode of life is so variable in the different groups of flies and the transformations are so remarkable that a very great interest attaches to many of these life histories. Unfortunately, however, very few observers have done any work in this direction and it results that there is room for an army of workers who will find it especially easy in this order to add to scientific knowledge. It will be noticed in the consideration which follows of the different families that full observations have not yet been recorded in many of them from which typical life histories can be drawn up. This is a sad state of affairs and it is one which observers of nature should endeavor to remedy. As an example, it was not until 1895 that a full account was published of a single one of our common North American mosquitoes and even so ubiquitous an insect as the house-fly was neglected in this country until a comparatively recent date. It is a strange fact, although not impossible to explain, that our commonest forms are neglected by students. One not only does not find them in collections, but when an attempt is made to find what is known about their lives it often results that no information can be gained from books. The reason for this in part is that everyone thinks that everything must be known about these common things.

The classification of the Diptera is complicated. The order has been split up into many families and the determination of species and genera in many of these families is exceptionally difficult. For the following table of the families and higher groups the writer is indebted to Mr. D. W. Coquillett, and it is taken in par from the advance sheets of a paper about to be published by the U.S. National Museum.