112 SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



nor annoying to man, it is strange that the structural features that char- 

 acterize it should, in classification, place it between the SimulidcB and 

 the CuUcidm — or the " black flies " and the mosquitoes. The insects are 

 small or of moderate size ; their flight is slow and heavy. They have 

 long legs, short antennae, and soft bodies. Their larvae are cylindrical 

 without feet, but furnished with transverse rows of short hairs, which 

 serve them in progression in the decaying vegetable and excrementi- 

 tious material in which they often occur. Their pupae are found within 

 smooth oval cells in the ground. 



The larva of this species is undescribed,* but it probably resembles 

 that of the " unknown species," to be referred to on a following page. 

 Its literature is very limited, not having been noticed in the Reports of 

 Dr. Harris, Fitch, Riley, Packard, Le Baron, Thomas or Forbes, Nearly 

 all the references to it that we have been able to find in our entomolog- 

 ical literature, are cited above and their purport given. A sufficient 

 reason, perhaps, for its not having received more attention may be that 

 it is not numbered among our injurious species. Yet the fact that it 

 has by some writers been regarded as destructive would seem to make 

 desirable further study of its food-habits, that its economic importance 

 might be definitely ascertained. 



Probably not an Injurious Species. 



From the great abundance of these flies which have been observed at 

 times upon apple and other blossoms, and from the common belief that 

 nearly all insects are injurious, they have repeatedly been sent to me for 

 name and habits, in the belief that they were a pernicious species and 

 that their presence betokened only harm. They are, however, believed 

 by entomologists to be entirely innocent of inflicting injury to the blos- 

 soms upon which they are often found, or to other vegetation. Under 

 date of May 25, 1877, examples of the fly were sent to me from Utica, 

 N.Y., where they were occurring in large numbers on potato plants. The 

 gardener believed that they were making war upon the Colorado beetle, 

 either by feeding on the larvae or on the eggs ; but, from what is known 

 of their habits, there is no probability that they were engaged in so de- 

 sirable a service — their association Avith the potato-beetle being simply 

 from their contemporaneous appearance in the garden, and their usual 

 sluggish habits inviting repose on any convenient foliage. 



Very grave charges, it is true, have been brought against an European 

 species, Bibio hortulanua Meigen. The distinguished naturalist, Ray, 

 calls it the deadliest enemy of the flowers in spring, and accuses it of 



♦Glover, in Manuscript JVotes from m>/ Journal — Diptera, 1874, plate vii. fig. 1'2, gives 

 the larva and pupa of an undetermined species of the geuils, which may be albipenaie. 



