MAY PLIES AND MIDGES OF NEW YORK 243 



dark brown. Legs vellow, knees of the fore legs and the fifth 

 tarsal joint of all the legs pale brown; extreme tips of all the 

 tibiae and of all the tarsal joints dusky; fore metatarsus about 

 1.5 times as long as its tibia; fore tarsi of male bare. Wings 

 hyaline, veins yellow, the crossvein brown. Length 6.5 to 8 mm. 

 New York, Illinois, Washington, Kansas, Idaho, South Dakota, 

 New Jersey (Johnson). 



62a. Chironomus tentans Fabricius 



1805 Chironomus Fabr. Syst Antl. p.38, 3 



1818 Chironomus Meigeu. Syst. Beschr. 1 :24 



1850 Chironomus Zett. Dipt. Scand. 9 :3482 



1864 Chironomus Schiner. Fauna Austr. 2 :G03 



1877 Chironomus V. d. Wulp. Dipt. Neerl. p.255 



1818 Chironomus abdominalis Meig. Syst. Beschr. 1 :32, 25 



1804 Chironomus vernalis Meig. Klass. 1 :13, 5 



Larva. Concerning the larva Weyenbergh (1874) writes: 

 " The larvae were found among the rotting leaves in the water. 

 They were full grown in March and the beginning of April; blood 

 red in color, long and slender in form, and abont 20 mm. in 

 length. . . . The mandible is deep brown, chitinized and sharply 

 toothed, particularly the vertex (pl.37, flg.28) is very sharp. The 

 lower lip (labium) is also sharply toothed, the teeth symmetri- 

 cally placed as shown on pl.37, fig.27. . . . The anal appendages 

 are large. ..." 



Imago, male and female. Length 7.5 to 9.75 mm. Head grayish 

 yellow ; palpi dark brown ; antennae of the male dark brown, the 

 hairs paler brown, sometimes verging upon ferruginous ; antennae 

 of the female reddish yellow, darkened apically. Thorax pale 

 yellow or light green; the moderately wide thoracic stripes, a line 

 produced posteriorly from the median stripe to the scutellum, a 

 part of the pleura and the metanotum, dark gray ; the whole 

 thorax especially when viewed from behind, with a whitish sheen. 

 Abdomen dark gray, the segments with whitish or grayish pos- 

 terior margins; the anal segment of the male short and broad, 

 the claspers bent, unusually stout. Legs yellowish, the knees, the 

 tips of the tibiae, and the whole of the tarsi, blackish; the fore 

 metatarsus nearly one half longer than its tibia, the second tarsal 

 joint about half as long as the first and but little longer than the 

 third ; the latter but little longer than the fourth ; the fore tarsi 

 not ciliate, even the hairs of the hind legs inconspicuous; these 

 legs in both sexes robust. Halteres yellowish. Wings whitish; 

 the anterior veins pale brown, crossvein slightly darker, the other 



