FIELD BOOK OF PONDS AND STREAMS 



shrubber>% are caught in the spider webs of bridge railings, 

 or dance in swarms over streams at twiHght. They fly about 

 lamps, and into houses, where they are famiUar as long-legged 

 flies which flutter into the corners of window panes and lose 

 a leg with every new trouble that comes into their lives. 



Adults. — Craneflies are long and slender, — body, wings, 

 and legs, especially the legs; they are the "daddy-long- 

 legs" among flies. Just behind the wings are their clublike 

 halteres or rudimentary hind wings. They seem to live 

 mainly on the nectar of flowers but they take little food of 

 any kind. In many species there are mating swarms, in most 

 cases largely made up of males. The males of some species 

 emerge before the females, seek out the female pupse, and wait 

 there, immediately mating with the adult females when they 

 come out of the pupal covers. Craneflies usuall}'- fly about 

 while mating, the females pulling the males after them. They 

 lay their eggs in the water, flying over it and making sudden 

 and frequent drops to dip the tip of the abdomen in the surface. 



Certain craneflies like Dicranomyia can often be seen 

 bobbing, a setting-up exercise widely practiced among crane- 

 flies. They stand firmly on the ground, springing on their 

 legs and bobbing their bodies up and down. They may do 

 this for a long time and some craneflies manage to eat during 

 the performance. 



Larvae. — Cranefly larvas are brown or white skinned, often 

 so transparent that the coils of their air-tubes can be clearly 

 seen from the outside. 



In Epiphragma the smaller, pointed end is the head and when 

 this is extended the brown biting mouth parts are conspicuous ; 

 but it is often kept withdrawn into the thorax so that they 

 do not show at all. Larvae of A ntocha have anal gills (Fig. 223) 

 and all of their oxygen supply is obtained from the water 

 but with this single exception cranefly larvae breathe air 

 through two spiracles at the hind end of the body. Thess 

 are surrounded by six to eight fleshy lobes, often lined with 



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