Bees and Flies

People get easily frightened of bees. While some people have legitimate fears because of severe allergies, there is really little reason to be afraid of bees. Unless you attack them, they'll generally leave you alone.

Well it's something hard to dispell in kids. One of my children is so afraid of bees that he runs from anything that even resembles a bee. There are little striped flies that hover about flowers that mildly resemble bees... and I can't convince him otherwise.

One easy way to tell a bee from a bee-resembling fly is the number of wings on the insect. Bees have two pairs of wings, whereas flies only have one pair.

Fly and Bee Links
Flies
BugInfo.com
Photovault - Photos of Flies by Wernher Krutein
Biting Flies
Insect Aerodynamics

Bees
B-EYE: The world through the eyes of a bee
NOVA Online | Tales from the hive
Beekeeper's Reference

Etc
The Bees and the Flies by Rudyard Kipling