Bee fly, home

The second flowering of the Sweet William blossoms is in full swing—how's that for alliteration?—and when I'm walking around the yard, which, with my granddaughter and the vicious heat wave still in residence, is sometimes the best trek I can muster, the flowers are pollinator magnets always worth checking out. The main showtime visitors have been Spicebush Swallowtails, but other butterflies show up from time to time, and, of course, there's a steady stream of honeybees and bumblebees coming in for nectar. They're not, however, the only insects checking in at the Sweet William B&B. This visitor, which is designed to resemble a Yellow Jacket, is actually a Flower Fly, a hymenopteran lookalike that gains a measure of protection from its well-evolved mimicry. The bold colors of the dipteran tell would-be predators: Stay away! I'm not a bug you'd like to mess with! But a closer inspection reveals the subterfuge, starting with two wings instead of four, much bigger eyes than a wasp, and much smaller antennae than its inadvertent protector. A good, and pretty, show.