Syriac
a dialect or branch of the Aramaic, and thus one of the Semitic family of languages. It was a vernacular dialect in in Syria during the early centuries of our era, but ceased to be spoken as a living language about the 10th century, being crowded out by that of the Arabian conquerors. A very corrupted form of it, however, is still spoken by a posites or other plants. The species are numerous, and the larvæ diverse in habits. Most of the latter feed on the roots or bulbs of plants, or live in decaying wood, mud, or sewers, or in the water, or as parasites in the nests of wasps and bumble bees. Genera more than 40 and among them Syrphus, Volucella , Eristalis, Helophilus, etc. of