110 
LOEW AS A DIPTEKOLOGIST 
sion about Simulium , containing a series of untenable propositions, 
ancl among them that, on account of their three Afterklauen, they 
should be placed among the Tip. Jiorales (Bibionidae, etc.). The 
strange expression “ Afterklauen,” in this case, of course, must 
mean pulvilli, and yet Simulium has no pulvilli, and only a rudi¬ 
mentary empodium. It is singular that Loew, as late as 1858, con¬ 
tinued to entertain the same erroneous notion about the pulvilli of 
Simulium! (See Berl. But. Zeit ., 1858, p. 102, line 13.) 
As I have said above, Loew all his life remained uncertain about 
the true position of Sciara. In the already quoted paper in the 
Stett. But. Zeit., 1843, p. 29, line 8, Loew reproaches Meigen with 
having overlooked the close relationship between Sciara and 
Lasioptera (!), and with having placed it near Mycetophila (in which 
Meigen was right). He makes a very superficial comparison be¬ 
tween the pupae of Lasioptera and those of Sciara , and infers from 
their supposed resemblance that there must be a relationship be¬ 
tween the imagos! When he objects to Zetterstedt having called 
Sciara a fungicole, he is right in so far only as its larva generally 
feeds on decaying matter (including dry cow-dung) ; but it also 
occurs in mushrooms (teste Dufour) 1 ; and at any rate Loew is in 
error when on that account he refuses to Sciara a place among the 
Mycetophilidae. lie quotes Macquart (“ Histoire Naturelle des 
Insectes Dipt&res,” Vol. I, p. 126, 1834), who says that “ Sciarae, 
in their organization, differ in some respects from the Mycetoplu- 
lidae ” ( “ n’appartiennent pas entierement aux Tip. fungicoles "), 
which, however, did not prevent Macquart from leaving them in 
that family, to which they actually belong. In the “ Diptero- 
logische Beitrage,” Vol. I, p. 10 (1845), Loew still entertains the 
opinion that Sciara must be placed at the end of the Cecidomyiidae 
and “ that the Psychodidae might very well (‘ ganz fiiglich ’) be 
united with them in the same family, the principal character of 
which would consist in the absence of a discal cell. ' An arrange¬ 
ment corresponding to this assumption (and which I have already 
i Dufour says (.Inn. Set. Nat., 1880, p. 31, at top): “If, as Mr. Macquart maintains, 
tlie larvae of Sciara occur in turf (‘ tcrreau ’), this fact must not be generalized, for the 
larvae of Sciara ingenua Duf. live in different kinds of mushrooms. ’ [I have also bred 
Sciarae from mushrooms. — Osten Sacken.] 
