114 MYCETOPHILID.i;, 



Head oval, flattened iu front, placed very low on the thorax, so 

 that in profile it jnakes a continuous curve with the thorax ; front 

 broad, the anterior margin produced into a triangle the apex 

 of which reaches the base of the antennae ; eyes oval, ocelli t^o in 

 number, placed close to the eye-margins. Palpi incurved, four- 

 jointed, the 1st joint small, the 4th as long as or longer than the 

 3rd, usually slender, rarely oval. Antennae arcuate, 16-jointed, the 

 basal joints differentiated, setose at the apex, the flagellar joints 

 cylindrical, compressed, pubescent. Thorax oval, highly arched, 

 produced over the head, pubescent, with longer hairs on the lateral 

 margins and over the base of the wing, posterior margin setose ; 

 scutellum usually semicircular, its margin setose ; metanotum 

 highly arched. Ahdomen of the male six-segmented, anal segment 

 usually small, forceps small ; that of the female seven-segmented, 

 more or less compressed, constricted at the base, ovipositor with 

 two lamellae. Lt'gs stout, the femora compressed ; tibiae with 

 spurs, fore tibiae with small setae on the outer side, middle tibiae 

 with two ranges of stout setae on the extensor surface, and one 

 range on the inner side ; hind tibiae with two or three ranges of 

 long stout setae on the extensor surface ; plantae of the hind tarsi 

 ciliate with fine setulse. Wings somewhat longer than the abdo- 

 men, oval, the base more or less rounded, the microscopic setulae 

 arranged in longitudinal rows. The costa ending before the tip of 

 the wing, the auxiliary vein very short, ending free ; the 1st longi- 

 tudinal straight, ending at about two-thirds of the wing ; the 3rd 

 originating a little before the middle of the wing at a right angle 

 and practically straight also ; the 4th and 5th forked approximately 

 at about the same place, nearly under the basal portion of the 3rd 

 vein or immediately beyond it, the branches very gently diverging, 

 or nearly parallel ; 6th and 7th veins rather short and indistinct. 



Life-history. Of several European species the life-history is 

 known ; that of M. hinata, Mg., for instance, has been worked 

 out by Heeger, whilst M. signata, Mg. has been reared by 

 Stannius from Boletus edulis; it frequents pinewoods. Heeger 

 says that some species hibernate, reappearing in early spring, 

 when they copulate after a few days. The larvae live in fungi and 

 decaying wood. The perfect insects occur anywhere in woods in 

 the neighbourhood of fungi and are often taken on the windows 

 of houses. 



Range. Probably \\orld-wide ; yet the genus has not been 

 actually recorded from Africa, or till now from the Continent of 

 Asia, though it has been found in the East Indian Islands. 



Fiingivora, Mg., though synonymous, is inadmissible as well as 

 all the other genera set up in Meigen's " 1800 paper" as it has 

 been termed, none having been accorded any species.' 



Table of Species. 



1. Wings with a brownish mark or marks . . 2. 



Wings clear cinctiventris, sp. n., p. 115. 



