530 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
short joints, and is sometimes simple, sometimes hairy. This seta is 
the evident representative of several of the terminal joints of the an- 
tenne of the preceding Diptera. The palpi have never more than 
two or three joints. 
The second stirps of the order Diptera, NoracantTHa, is distin- 
guished by having the antennee composed of a number of articulations, 
the terminal ones being closely united, so as to form an elongated mass 
(fig. 127. 8. 7.18.), which has been considered by Latreille merely as 
the third joint ; the proboscis encloses only four internal organs at the 
most, but even these in some species are more or less obsolete ; the 
palpi are minute and clavate ; the wings fold upon each other over the 
abdomen, and the scutellum is generally spined; the wings have a 
central cell, emitting several very indistinct longitudinal nerves, which 
mostly run to the tips of the wings. These insects are generally gaily 
coloured, and found in moist situations, it being in such habitats that 
the larve reside; these undergo a coarctate kind of metamorphosis, 
in which, however, the skin of the larva retains its form, instead of 
contracting into a “ boule allongée.” 
Latreille, in the second edition of the Fégne Animal, guided by the 
formation of the antennz, considered the Mydaside as referrible to 
this stirps. It appears to me, however, from their general structure, 
and especially from the peculiar neuration of their wings (which closely 
resembles that of some Nemestrinz belonging to the Anthracide, es- 
pecially Nem. fasciata Meig. vol. vi. tab. 66. fig. 5.), that the Myda- 
side belong to the stirps Tanystoma. ‘The tarsi of Mydas, moreover, 
have only two pulvilli. 
This stirps is divisible into two families, the Stratiomidee and Be- 
ridz ; the latter of which, in general appearance, colours, sluggish 
manners and habits, nearly approach the terminal Tipulide.* Mr. 
Stephens, indeed, makes the Asilide the connecting link between the 
Tipulide and the rest of the Tanystoma, but I can see no grounds 
for such an approach. Meigen, on the contrary, followed by Curtis, 
has placed the Beridz (including Xylophagus and Cznomyia) be- 
tween the Tipulidz and Tabanidz, but has removed the Stratiomide 
(whose affinity with the Beridz appears to me unquestionable) to the 
vicinity of the Syrphidee. 
* T nevertheless place the Beride after the Stratiomide, in order to maintain the 
passage between Subula and Xylophagus unbroken. 
