341 



FAMILY TIPULIDJE. 

 (Daddy-long-legs, Crane Flies.) 



(Plate 42.) 

 These are often mistaken for large, clumsy mosqui- 

 toes with very long slender legs. Their flight is slow, 

 and they bump into rocks, shrubs, etc., often losing 

 a leg by these encounters, but continuing their way 

 seemingly without concern. We knew children who 

 used to sing : — 



^^ Silly Daddy-long-legs 

 Clumsy and slow, 

 Bump a rock and lose a leg, 

 But what is that to you ?'* 



And someone has written: — \ 



*^My six long legs, all here and theve, 

 Oppress my bosom with despair.'' 



Characteristics: The proboscis is short and stout, 

 and there are usually but two slender stylets. The 

 antenna are very long and thread-like in the female, 

 but those of the male are much shorter and very 

 handsomely plumed. The halteres or balancers are 

 naked and with an elongate stalk (Plate 42, Fig. 2 

 a). There is a marked V-shaped suture on the bad-: 

 of the thorax. The female has horny-pointed valves 

 at the end of the abdomen with which she cuts 

 •through the soil to deposit eggs in the ground. 

 Many larvae live in the ground; they are elongate 

 and like short worms. In America and Europe 



