It's been a summer of depressing abundance for Yellow Jackets, those nasty tempered wasps that, too often, rise out of the ground en masse to attack the unfortunate hiker who inadvertently stepped on the hidden entrance to their subterranean nests. So far, thank goodness, I've been spared the ordeal, but even with no nests nearby to disgorge the stinging troops, there are plenty of Yellow Jackets prowling the flowers. I make sure I give the nasties a wide berth, but as I looked at this YJ, I realized something: it wasn't what it claimed to be. This Flower Fly—you can tell it's a member of the Diptera by the fact that it has only two wings, a pair of puny antennae, and, of course, no stinger—is perfectly harmless, but it's certainly a good enough mimic of the real thing to cause potential predators to avoid it. Once I realized my error, I did something that evolution hadn't bargained for: instead of making a strategic retreat, I moved in... for a close-up of an amazing insect known as Spilomyia longicornis.