306 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Jan 



the smooth rock by means of six " suckers " lying in a single 

 segmented series in the median line on the ventral aspect of 

 the body. So fast-holding are these suckers that in attempt- 

 ing to remove a larva one often tears it in halves. Yet the 

 suckers can be readily voluntarily loosened by the insect. 



These strange larvae of Blepharocera have not gone unnoticed 

 in other lands. Fritz Muller found them in Brazil (and this 

 was the discovery of the young stages of the Blepharoceridse) ; 

 Dewitz, another German naturalist, found them in the Hartz 

 Mountains, and Prof. Zschokke, of the University of Basel, 

 has sent me some specimens from Switzerland. Here in Cali- 

 fornia I have found the midges of a new species of the genus 

 Liponeura, belonging to this family, and shall some day find 

 the larvae. Of course, these various Blepharocerid larvae rep- 

 resent several species, but all of the members of the family so 

 far known have very similar immature stages. 



For a year or more I have devoted some time to the study 

 of the post-embryonal development of Blepharocera capilato. 

 hoping to find in the development of a Neinatocerous fly some 

 new light on those remarkable phenomena of histolysis 

 and hijtogeuesis which accompany the development of the 

 Diptera, but which have been chiefly studied in the case of 

 Calliphora, one of the highly specialized members of the order. 

 The results of this study will be published elsewhere, but a 

 brief account of some of the interesting structural peculiarities 

 of Blepharocera, in its various stages, together with the little 

 that is known of its life history, may be of interest to the 

 readers of THE NEWS. 



Life History. 



The eggs of Blepharocera capitata have not as yet been found . 

 The larvae and pupae have long been known to Prof. Comstock 

 and his students, being abundant in, two streams near Ithaca 

 and not uncommon in others. On May 9, 1898, I visited Coy 

 Glen and found many young larvae ; no eggs, no pupae, no 

 adults. The smallest of these larvae were 2.5 mm. long, and 

 the larvte were much scattered over the smooth rock bed of 

 the stream, where the water was swift, but shallow. The 

 larvae can only live in swiftly flowing water ; they die soon 

 after being removed into vials of water or into still-water 



