HEMEKOBID^. 



COO 



IIemerobid.e Leach. The Aphis Lions and Lace-winged 

 flies, which are inchided in this family, have long, slender, cy- 

 lindrical bodies. The wings are large, with nnmerous veins, 

 the posterior ones with no anal space ; the ocelli are usually 

 absent, and the tarsi are five-jointed. 



The larviie vary considerably in form, but are usuall}' flat- 

 tened or short, thick, ovate and fleshy, with large sickle-like 

 mandibles ; "the under side of tliese organs is deeply grooved, 

 and the maxillae, which are nearly equal to 

 them in size, and of a similar form, pla}' in 

 this groove." (Westwood.) With these they 

 pierce the bodies of their victims and suck 

 out their juices. The sides of the abdominal 

 segments are fringed and have lateral tuber- 

 cles bearing a thin tuft of radiating hairs. 



The body of the pupa is more cylindrical, 

 being curved, and with the limbs and wings 

 folded to the breast. The larva spins a silken 

 cocoon, and the pupa is inactive. 



In Aleuronia the bod}' is covered with a 

 whitish powder; the eyes are reniform, and 

 tlie antenniie are monilifonn. The wings are 

 ciliated ; the longitudinal veins are few in 

 number, while the transverse ones are almost 

 absent. Aleuronia Westwoodll of Fitch is a 

 very small insect, being black, covered Avith a whitish pow- 

 der, with a pale abdomen and feet. The singular genus 

 Conioptenjx, whose larva somewhat resembles a Smynthurus. 

 one of the Thysanura, showing the close relationship of 

 these aberrant forms, is characterized by Hagen as being 

 powdered with whitish scales, having globose eyes and monili- 

 form antennae. The wings are not ciliated, the longitudinal 

 veins are few, and there arc some transverse veins. The pos- 

 terior wings of the males are small. Conioxiteryx vicina ILagon 

 is black, covered with grayish powder, and the wings have 

 eight longitudinal veins, all joined together by a single trans- 

 verse vein. It is about one-seventh of an inch in length. 

 Ilaliday (in Westwood's Introduction) thhiks that the larva of 

 the European C. tineifonnis preys on plant-lice. When about 



Fiff. 596. 



