Mar., 1911.] The Stratiomyidar of Cedar Point. 299 



THE STRATIOMYIDAE OF CEDAR POINT, SANDUSKY. 



(Order Diptera) 

 Bentlev B. Fulton. 



A shallow, weedy body of quiet water with a low muddy or 

 sandy shore, is the ideal "breeding place for most Stratiomyidae. 

 These conditions are found at Cedar Point. The shore of San- 

 dusky Bay along the point is low and sandy and in most places 

 covered with a layer of mud and debris washed up by the waves. 

 Along the shore there are many patches of swamp land. At the 

 eastern end of the bay there is a swamp covering several square 

 miles, through which run many winding flood channels; the 

 largest of these is called Black Channel. The bottom of the bay 

 has a thick deposit of mud and supports a luxuriant growth of 

 submerged plants, while on the surface in many places are thick 

 mats of algae and floating plants. All these conditions are 

 favorable and most of the si^ecies found were ver\' common. 

 Since no collecting has been done at Cedar Point before the 

 iTiiddle of June, it is probable that there are a number of early 

 forms which have not been taken. 



The family Stratiomyidae is a rather large one, having about 

 one thousand described species, of which about two hundred are 

 found in North America. They are bare or thinly pilose flies 

 with flattened abdomen and often having bright yellow or green 

 markings which give them the name of Soldier Flies. The 

 squamae are small or vestigial, tibiae without spurs and the 

 antennae are three-jointed, the third joint being composed of 

 several annulations and often bearing a terminal arista. The 

 wings are clear or smoky and are held along the abdomen when at 

 rest. Species of this family may be easily recognized by the 

 venation of the wing; the longittidinal veins being more or less 

 crowded along the costal margin, while the posterior veins are 

 often weak or vestigial. The discal cell is usually small and oval 

 or irregularly six-sided. 



C. A. Hart in his "Entomology of the Iflinois River" has given 

 man}^ interesting observations on the habits of Stratiomyidae. 

 He found the females of Odontomyia cincta and O. vertebrata 

 ovipositing on reeds, stakes and dead branches in the water. The 

 larvae of Stratiomyia and Odontomyia are elongate and flattened, 

 rather large, and of an opaque greenish, brown, or gray color 

 obscurely striped. The fonner prefer the low shores and are 

 found crawling over the mud or living in the plant debris, while 

 the latter live in the water. The pupa is formed in one end of the 

 larval skin, which becomes inflated and floats on the water. The 

 imago emerges through a median slit connecting transverse slits 

 in the second and fourth segments. 



