
AQUATIC INSECTS OF FRESHWATER 

Sericostoma americana, Rhyacophila torva, Leptocerus transversus and Mac- 
ronema xebratus, each also representative of a distinct genus of the order 
Trichoptera. 
Orper Taysanura. This order includes the so-called Bristle-tails, 
Spring-tails, Fish-moths and others; wingless insects which undergo no 
metamorphoses and retain the larval form in the adult. The mouth parts 
are developed for biting and chewing soft substances and they are some- 
times provided with rudimentary legs only. “The sub-orders comprise the 
Bristle-tails or Cinura; the Spring-tails or Collembola, and the Water 
Spring-tails or Poduride, with only the last of which we are concerned. 
Warer Sprinc-Tairs belong to the family of Poduride, of which 
P. aquatica, Fig. 217, is often found on the surface of quiet ponds and 
still water. It is a black insect with six legs, dis- 2 
tinctly segmental abdomen withoutaconstrictionto 
divide it and the thorax, plumed antenne, reddish 
legs provided with hairs and sharp claws, devoid 
of wings, and of which the larvee may be distin- 
guished from the adult only by their still smaller 
size. Achorutes nivicola is another species some- 

times found under the surface of the water, and 
Lepidocyrtus americanus in greenhouses, under logs FIG aay. Watereprngeil 
and in similar situations. They are small entirely Poduras oquation: “Enlatecd 
harmless insects, mentioned only because they often attract the attention 
of the fish culturist and Natural History collector. 
Orper Diptera. This order includes insects which may be properly 
called Flies; those having but two wings borne by the mesothorax and 
include the Mosquitoes, Midges and Gnats. The wings are thin and 
membranous, the mouth parts formed for sucking, the thorax and abdomen 
slender, and the eyes distinct and placed at the sides of the head. The 
order includes the Mosquitoes or Culicidee; Net-winged. Midges or 
_ Blepharoceride and Chironomid; Moth-like Flies or Psychodide, Crane- 
flles and False Crane-flies, Black and Buffalo-flies, Horse-flies, Soldier-flies, 
the Long-legged flies, Snipe-flies and many others. 
Mosguiroes belong to the family of Culicide, small flies with narrow 
wings and long and slender abdomen, of which the males have plumelike 
antenne. They frequent moist localities and pass all the stages of develop- 
ment to the perfect insect in the water, a new brood appearing every 
three or four weeks. In depositing the eggs the female rests upon some 
floating object with the anterior legs, the middle legs rest on the water and 
the posterior legs are crossed to hold the eggs as they are laid, with their 
longer diameter vertical, and glued together to form a raft of often 200 
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