THE MYCETOPHILID.E. 109 



short and stout in ^ and in $ . Wings brownish ; veins dark ; 

 second longitudinal vein ending just before fork of third longitudinal 

 vein ; fourth longitudinal vein distinct. Abdomen fuscous ; halteres 

 piceous ; legs short and stout ; dark. 



Found in May on and about the Bilberry ; generally abundant. 



Heeger* gives the following account of the habits of this species : 

 " The females lay their eggs in decaying fungi or vegetable mould. 

 The eggs are in short strings, from six to ten in a row. If the 

 weather is favourable and the temperature moderate the larvae are 

 excluded in eight or ten days. They shed their skin three times, 

 at irregular intervals, depending on the conditions of heat and 

 moisture. Before undergoing the pupa-state they form near the 

 surface of the soil a little barrel-shaped case, out of which the pupa 

 extricates itself in part before the exclusion of the perfect insect. 

 The shedding of the skin and transformation generally take place in 

 the morning ; copulation more frequently in the evening." 



6". pidicaria^ Mg. 



This has been reared from putrescent galls and, according to 

 Curtis,! from rotten potatoes. It is found in the autumn about 

 gardens and on windows. 



The imago is black ; thorax shining black, with abdomen dark 

 blackish brown. Wings glassy ; costal nerves dark ; the remainder 

 pale ; fourth longitudinal vein pale before its fork ; second longitudinal 

 vein ending much before the fork of the fourth. Halteres brownish, 

 with black knobs. Legs testaceous; tarsi blackish. 



S.JId'c'ipes, Panzer. 



In this gnat the thorax is testaceous, with a small pale band on 

 the humeral region. Abdomen dark above, yellowish on ventral 

 surface. Palpi black and testaceous. Antennae black ; testaceous 

 at the base ; longer in (^ than ? . Cox^e yellowish-brown ; tarsi 

 brown ; wings nearly limpid ; veins light brown ; fourth longitudinal 

 vein pale before the fork ; second longitudinal vein extending to half 

 length of body ; not up to the fork of fourth. 



The fly appears in summer amongst bushes and underwood, and 

 is fairly common. 



S. hyalipeiinis^ Mg. 



This is another plentiful species found in gardens and hedges 



about the end of May and June. 



* Beitriige, etc., Sitzb. d. Wien. Ac. xi., p. 27, T. ii. 

 t Curtis, " Farm Insects," p. 460, i860. 



