HEMEROBID^. 



609 



Hemerobid^ 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 numerous veins, 

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

 absent, and the tarsi are five-jointed. 



The larvae vary considerably in form, but are usually flat- 

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

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

 and the maxillae, which are nearly equal to 

 them in size, and of a similar form, play in 

 this groove." (Westwood.) With these they || .Hyj 

 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 \j 

 folded to the breast. The larva spins a silken 

 cocoon, and the pupa is inactive. "'^" ^ ''' 



In Aleuronia the body is covered with a ^ ,,. 



whitish powder ; the eyes are reniform, and ^^^^ 



the antennae are moniliform. The wino;s are \ s-^^ ^ 



ciliated ; the longitudinal veins are few in 

 number, while the transverse ones are almost 

 absent. Aleuronia Westivoodii of Fitch is a ^'s- s^e. 



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

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

 Conioj)teryx, 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 ej^es and monili- 

 form antennae. The wings are not ciliated, the longitudinal 

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

 terior wings of the males are small. Conioj)teri/x vicina Hagen 

 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) thinks that the larva of 

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



