mycetophilidtE. 385 



black with a white stripe on the mesonotum, the metanotum 

 and flanks being white, and the legs banded with white. It is 

 a widely diffused species, 

 and presents a most sin- 

 gular appearance when fly- 

 ing, as it moves slowlj^, 

 with its feet variegated 

 with snow-white, and extending like the radii of a circle. (Os- 

 ten Sacken.) In the genus Protoplasma (Fig. 306, wing) there 

 are six posterior cells in the wing. P. Fitchii O. Sacken is 

 brownish graj'^, with brown bands on the wings. 



Mycetophilid.e Macquart. This famil}^ comj^ilses small 

 flies, capable of leaping to a considerable height, and provided 

 with two or three ocelli, but not having a proboscis. While 

 the antennae are usually simple, as in all other Diptera, those 

 of Platyroptilon Miersii West wood are forked, having a 

 branch one-half as long as the antenna itself. The thorax does 

 not have a transverse suture, and the wings are without a discal 

 cell, while the coxte are greatly elongated, and the tibiae are all 

 armed with spurs. The larvae are subcylindrical and smooth, 

 with locomotive bristles beneath, and eight pairs of stig- 

 mata ; they are in color white or yellowish. They are greo-ari- 

 ous, living in decaying vegetable matter, fungi, or in dung, one 

 species forming a gall. They shed their skin several times be- 

 fore becoming full}^ grown. Osten Sacken states that the larva 

 of Sciophila which covers the surface of the fungus it feeds in 

 with a web, is long and almost serpentiform, while those of 

 BolUophila and Mycetophila are shorter and stouter, and that 

 of Sciara is intermediate. The pupae of tnls family are 

 smooth, with rounded angles and edges, whereas those of 

 Tipula are sharp and pointed. They are enclosed in a silken 

 cocoon. Some species of Sciara do not, however, spin cocoons. 

 The larva of Mycetopldla scatophora Perris "carries on its 

 back a sheath formed of its own excrements and moulded by 

 means of a peculiar undulator^^ motion of the skin. The 

 pupae remain within the sheath, but bolbre assuming this state 

 the larva extends the sheath anteriorly in a short neck, and 

 tapestries it on the inside with a pellicle, which renders it 

 25 



