403 

 Drapetis nigra Meigen 



Drapetis nigra Meigen, Syst. Beschr. Eur. Zweifl. Ins., Vol. 6, p. 344. (1828) 



Larva. — Length, 2-2.5 t^^^- White. 



Musciform; head from above as in Figure 6, Plate LVII. Ab- 

 domen with locomotor spinules in a rather broad band on anterior 

 margin of segments ; posterior spiracles large, separated by slightly 

 more than the width of a spiracle; a slightly darkened and raised 

 transversely elongated area below spiracles armed with a few hairs. 



Pupa (PI. LVII, Fig. 7). — The pupa differs in many respects 

 from that of Rhamphomyia dimidiata. The chief distinctions lie in 

 the njuch elongated respiratory organs of the thorax, and in the arma- 

 ture of the abdomen, the latter consisting of a dense covering of small 

 spinules on the greater portion of the dorsum of all segments. 



The specimens from which the foregoing descriptions were made, 

 are the exuvia of a female reared from a rotten stump at Crystal 

 Lake Park, Urbana, June 10, 1916. With this specimen were many 

 larvae of Clusiodes flaviseta Johnson. 



Drapetis nigra is a European species that has previously been re- 

 corded from South Dakota and Canada. 



Papers on the Biology of North American Empididae 



Aldrich, J. M., and Turley, L. A. 



'99. A Balloon-making fly. Am. Nat., 33 : 809-812. 



Needham, J. G., and Betten, C. 



'01. Aquatic insects in the Adirondaeks. Bull. 47, N. Y. State Mus. 

 (Notes on the life history and descriptions of larva and pupa of 

 Roederiodes juncfa Coquillett are given on pp. 581-582.) 



Family DOLICHOPODIDAB 



I have not succeeded in obtaining all stages of any species of this 

 family, and little is known of the early stages in America, only one 

 species in this country being fully described — by Johannsen and 

 Crosby. I have before me the larvae of two species, which were de- 

 scribed bv Mr. Hart in his paper ''On the Entomology of the Illinois 

 River and Adjacent Waters" cited in the list of publications at the 

 close of this section. These larvae were referred to Brachycera with- 

 out being assigned to any family. The European species are much 

 better known, though few of the descriptions are clear upon many of 

 the essential points. In view of these facts it would be folly to at- 



