Dolichopodidae. 25 



The abdominal segments have shorter or longer hindmarginal bristles. 

 The legs are long and slender, the coxæ elongated; hind metatarsus 

 from as long as to considerably longer than the second joint, without 

 bristles. In the males the front or middle tarsi are sometimes adorned 

 in various ways. The legs are haired with short hairs, and have few 

 bristles, the hind coxæ one or several bristles on the outside; the 

 hind femora have a distinct preapical bristle, sometimes also the middle 

 femora; the tibiæ have small apical bristles; the females have strong 

 spines below the front femora, the males have here generally weaker 

 or stronger hairs. There are two small claws, two pulvilli and a 

 somewhat comb-shaped empodium. The wings are sometimes broad 

 in the male; they have not rarely (in foreign species) dark markings. 

 The mediastinal vein terminates in the subcostal vein ; the discai vein 

 is forked, and the first posterior cell narrov^rly open; the anal vein is 

 weak, it does not reach the margin, but is generally short; the axil- 

 lary lobe is generally not large. Squamulæ small, and also their angular 

 lobe small, with a fan of long hairs, the inner part of the squamulæ 

 with short hairs. 



The developmental stages of Sciapus platt/pterus are described 

 by Beling (Arch. fur Naturgesch., 48, I, 1882, 222). The larva is 

 8 mm long, 0,8 mm thick, cylindrical, of yellowish colour. It consists 

 of twelve segments in all. The last segment is a little swollen, with 

 shallow, longitudinal furrows, and at the end with four squarely 

 placed membranous teeth, the tAvo upper small and somewhat distant 

 the two lower nearer to each other, longer, and with the apex 

 directed upwards. The posterior spiracles lie between the teeth. — 

 The pupa is 5 mm long and 1 mm thick (shrivelled), yellowish. At 

 the lower side of the frons there are two, approximately placed, com- 

 pressed protuberances, each with two small spines or teeth, and with 

 a hair at the anterior end; more posteriorly on the lower side there 

 are two small protuberances, forming a transverse ridge, and in front 

 of this, in the middle, two short hairs. There are two long spiracular 

 tubes on the front part of the thoracic dorsum, and on the dorsal 

 side of thorax are some hairs. The abdominal segments have each 

 dorsally a transverse girdle of bristly teeth of unequal length. The 

 sheaths of the legs reach to the end of abdomen. — The larva was 

 found in a forest of beech-trees in the ground below leaves on ^^^/4, 

 the imago came on ^/e. 



The species of Sciapus are characteristic by their slender shape 

 and long legs. They occur in low herbage and in foliage on shaded 

 and humid piaces, especially near water; they may also, at all events 

 some species, often be seen on tree-trunks and palings. I have taken 



