No. 64] DIPTERA OF CONNECTICUT : TAXONOMY 185 



Gu^ extendino- from vein %iid A to near the bend in vein Cux, most 

 distinct in Ptychoptera. Abdomen long and slender, especially in 

 males of Bittacomorphinae. Hypopygium with lobes of tergite and 

 basistyle extended. Ovipositor with cerci compressed, bent slightly 

 dorsad. 



Adult flies of members of the two subfamilies are very different 

 in appearance, Ptychoptera more resembling a large fungus-gnat than 

 it does a crane-fly. Bittacomorpha^ commonly called the "Phantom 

 Crane-fly" is very different and is one of the most conspicuous and 

 interesting of all local Diptera. The basitarsi of the legs are dilated 

 and filled with tracheae, by means of which the flies drift in the 

 wind with the long legs extended to catch the breeze (Alexander, 

 Cfls. N. Y., 2:Y84-7S5; 1920). The immature stages are aquatic or 

 nearly so, living in decaying vegetable matter in swamps. The re- 

 markable larvae and pupae have been much discussed in literature 

 (Alexander, Ihid., 2:772-787, pis. 14-18, inclusive; 1920). 



Key to Subfamilies and Genera 



1. Antennae 16-segmented; wings with cell Mi present (Fig. 19, A), in local 



species cross-banded with brown; legs not banded black and white. 



(Ptychopterinae) Ptychoptera 



Antennae 20-segmented ; wings with cell Mi lacking (Fig. 19, B) without 

 markings : legs banded black and white. (Bittacomorphinae) 2 



2. Apex of wing with macrotrichia in cells ; basitarsi not dilated 



Bittacomorphella 

 Apex of wing without macrotrichia in cells ; basitarsi of all legs dilated. . . . 



Bittacomorpha 



Subfamily Ptychopi"erinae 



Ptychoptera Meigen 



1800. Linope Meigen; Nouv. Class. Mouch., p. 14 (nom. nud.). 

 1803. Ptychoptera Meigen; Illiger's Mag.. 2:262. 

 1856. Ctenocema Rondani ; Dipt. Ital., Prodr., 1 : 187. 



Ptychoptera rufocincta O. S. (Fig. 19, A). 



1824. ? Ptychoptera quadrifasciata Say; Long's Exped. St. Peters 

 R., Appendix, p. 359. 



1859. P. rufocincta Osten Sacken; Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadel- 

 phia, 1859 : 252. 



Figs. — Osten Sacken, Mon. Dipt. N. Amer., 4, pi. 2, fig. 19 (wing) : 1869. 

 Needham, 23rd Rept. N. Y. St. Ent. for 1907, pi. 15, fig. 2 (ven.) ; 1908. Alexander. 

 Cfls. N. Y., 1, pi. 30, fig. 2 (wing) ; 1919. Alexander, Gen. Ins., Fasc. 188, fig. 8 

 (antenna, $ ) ; 1927. Crampton, Ent. News, ?>7, pi. 3, fig. 6 (thorax) ; 1926. 



Head and mesonotum black, thoracic pleura chiefly yellow. 

 Flagellum uniform black. Legs yellow, the femoral tips narrowly 

 darkened. Wings subhyaline, costal border more yellowish; disk 

 with four more or less complete crossbands, tlie first at arculus, the 

 third at cord, the last, usually interrupted, across forks of outer 

 cells; wing-tip with numerous macrotrichia in cells (shown in figure 

 19, A, by dots). Abdomen black, the basal segments ringed at prox- 



