DIPTERA 



797 



The phantom crane-fly, Bittacomorpha davipes. — This remarkable 

 insect is the member of this family that is most likely to attract atten- 

 tion. Its long legs are banded with black and white and the metatarsi 

 are conspicuously enlarged and swollen. In its progress through the 

 air the legs are held outspread like the spokes of a wheel with the 

 metatarsi hanging vertically. It uses its wings but little in flight but 

 is borne along by currents in the air. The black and white banding 

 of its legs makes it a very conspicuous object as it drifts phantom- 

 like through the air. 



Family ANISOPID^* 



The So-called False Crane-Flies 



The family Anisopidse has not been classed with the crane-flies 

 till recently ; the presence of ocilli and the lack of a V-shaped trans- 

 verse mesonotal suture in this family having been regarded as charac- 

 ters excluding it from the Tipuloidea. On the other hand the members 

 of this family resemble crane-flies in certain features of the venation 

 of the wings; for this reason they have been known as false crane-flies. 

 But a study of the larvffi and pupae of members of this family has 

 shown that it should be regarded as one of the families of the Tipu- 

 loidea. 



This family is represented in our fauna by three genera, Anisopus 

 Trichocera, and Mycetohia; of these the last two have been commonly 

 classed in other families ; but the immature stages of the three genera 

 are very similar. 



Anisopus. — The adults are mosquito-like insects with spotted 

 wings, which often enter houses, where they are found on windows. I 



R,., 



Fig. 1006. — Wing of Anisopus. 



have also observed them in considerable numbers just at nightfall, 

 feeding on sugar which had been placed on trees to attract moths. 



*This family has been known as the Rhyphidae. 



