52 NATURAL HISTORY OF KERGUELEN ISLAND. 



with small, triaugular rudiments of wings. They cannot fly, but seem 

 to use the wings in jumping, which they do with great activity, mak- 

 ing it quite difiicult to catch them. They do not appear to jump in any 

 definite direction, but spring into the air, buzzing the small winglets 

 with great activity, and seem to trust to chance for a spot on which 

 to alight, tumbling over and over in the air. I never observed them 

 jumping when undisturbed. 



These three genera of wingless flies present several anomalies not 

 heretofore observed. With the structure of flies, they possess many of 

 the habits of beetles, such as that of counterfeiting death when in danger, 

 and seem to represent this order in the economy of the locality. The 

 carrion-feeder [Anaialania aptcra) has no vestige of either wings or bal- 

 ancers (halteres), " Aptera anhalterata,^^ Mr. Eaton calls thera. The leaf- 

 feeders show small scale-like bodies, which Mr. Eaton supposed to repre- 

 sent the balancers ("halteribus brevibus et parvis"). Baron Osten 

 Sacken, however, finds that these scales -are really representatives of 

 the wings. The third genus {Amalopteryx maritima) represents a fur- 

 ther step in the progress of development, iiossessing both wings and 

 balancers, but still unable to fly. A small gnat, observed only during 

 the time of flowering of the " Kerguelen tea" {Accma affinis^ Hook, til.), 

 was the only flying insect observed bj me while on the island. Even 

 the common house-fly had not yet been naturalized. Mr. Eaton men- 

 tions also a species of TipuUdw,* with imperfect or abortiv^e wings. 



PSEUDO-NEUllOPTERA. 



Bv H. A. Hagen. 



Rhyopsocus ECLIPTICUS. 



Head large, triangular, scarcely longer than broad, flattened above; 



occipital margin straight, very little notched in the middle. Eyes black, 



scarcely prominent, i)laced in the hind angle of the head; half as long 



as the head, half as broad as long, slightly rounded externally, with 



very large facets, only 15 along the external margin ; ocelli wanting 



(Note 1). Nasus large, tumid,_nearly straight before, the angles rounded; 



labrum half as long as broad, front margin straight, angles rounded; 



antennae inserted between the base of the clypeus and the eyes, long, 



nearly as long as the body, thin, 2G-jointed; the two basal joints much 



larger, of equal length, cylindrical ; the six following ones ueai'ly equal, 



cylindrical, a little shorter than the second one; the eight following 



ones a little shorter, somewhat ovoid ; the last of them (the IGth) a 



* Described as Halyrltus amphibius, Eaton, Entom. Mag., Aug., 1875. 



