336 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER XIII 



Beyond the fact that it must obviously be a domestic species, 

 nothing is known of its life Ijistory, The venation is essentially 

 that of a Gidex, and the arrangement of the scales of the head 

 and scutellum is that of Stcgovnjia, to which genus it is perhaps 

 most nearly allied. He defines the genus as follows : — 



"Head clothed with flat and upright forked scales ; antenna; of the $ 

 fourteen-jointed, of the ^ fifteen-jointed, the last two joints long ; palpi 

 of $ four-jointed, of the $ long and thin, five-jointed, basal joint small ; 

 third and fourth joints nearly equal ; apical joint about two-thirds the 

 length of the penultimate joint ; palpi pointed, no hair tufts. Meso- 

 thorax clothed with narrow curved hair-like scales ; scutellum with flat 

 scales on the mid lobe. Abdomen densely scaled with broad flat scales. 

 Fore and mid ungues of ? equal, and each with a small tooth ; fore 

 ungues of ^ unequal, the larger thick, simple, the smaller one thin, and 

 with a single tootli ; mid ungues unequal, the larger one stout, the 

 smaller very thin, both untoothed ; hind ones equal and simple, small. 

 Last two tarsi of the hind legs in the 3 densely scaled, forming a dis- 

 tinct ' paddle.' Wings witli the first sub-marginal cell longer and 

 narrower than the second posterior cell, stem of the latter considerably 

 longer than the cell ; venation practically as in Culex. 



" A single species only occurs so far. The chief distinguishing features, 

 besides the squamate structure, are the hairy posterior tarsi in tlie ^ , and 

 the long thin hairless palpi and tlie ungues. 



" Nothing is known of its life-history, except that Mr. Austen bred the 

 gnats from larvae in old tins and bottles full of water. There is no con- 

 tinuation of the third vein as a pseudo-vein into the basal cell, as in 

 Armigeres." 



1. ERETMAPODITES QUINQUEYITTATUS, Theob. 



(Monog. I, p. 280). 



Plate xi, tig. 10a, Venation of wing ; 10b, Scales from wing ; 10c, 

 " Paddle " of the $ hind leg. 



Thorax bright ferruginous brown, vs'ith six golden-scaled lines, 

 dividing five darker ferruginous lines. Abdomen black, the last 

 two segments with brilliant silvery-metallic scales, five lateral 

 silvery-white patches. Legs black, with a white knee spot, pale 

 bases to tlie femora, and with the hind tarsi in the <? densely 

 scaled, forming a dark broad paddle. Wings transparent, with 

 dark brown scales. 



$ . — Head densely scaled with brilliant burnished silvery scales, 

 and with black upright forked scales behind; clypeus, palpi and pro- 

 boscis black ; palpi of moderate size, thickly scaled ; antennae dark 

 brown, with narrow pale bands ; basal jouit black, with a few small 

 ochraceous scales ; second joint testaceous, with black and ochraceous 

 scales. 



