PTYOHOPTERA. 



281 



slender tubular tail. The head is hard and small, bearing a pair 

 of eye-spots and furnished with two very minute antennae, which 

 are almost imperceptible. It moves by means of the stiff bristles, 

 directed backwards, affixed to the rather enlarged posterior rim of 

 each segment ; in addition, there are three pairs of pseudopods or 

 pro-legs. It breathes through tlie tail, lying near the surface of 

 the water (sometimes floating at full length on it) of shallow pools 

 or brooks, preferring stagnant and muddy water. It is said to 

 live, during the greater part of the year, imbedded in the mud of 

 such places, with usually only the tip of the tail projecting. 



The pupa is furnished with a long respiratory tube, and floats 

 on the surface of the water during spring and summer. The 

 abdomen is provided with five circles of fine spines, by the aid of 

 which the pupa peregrinates to firm ground just before the 

 emergence of the imago. 



Several of the older authors have left records concerning the 

 life-histories of some of the European species of this genus, in 

 particular De Geer, Eeaumur, and Lyonet ; whilst, more recently, 

 the early stages of Ptiichoptem lacustris, Mg., have been described 

 by Beling,* and those'of P. contaminata, L., by Grrubben.f Brauer 

 also illustrates the larva of Ptyclioptera. % 



Tahle of Species. 



"Wings with a dark brown cross-band .... distinctn, Brun., p. 281. 

 Wings unmarked. 



Hind femora mainly black on basal two- 

 thirds • tibialis, Brun., p. 282. 



Hind femora wholly orange-yellow .... atritarsis, Brim,, p. 283. 



192. Ptychoptera distincta, Brun. (PI. Y, fig. 1.) 



Ptychoptera distincta, Brunetti, Bee. Ind. Mus. vi. p. 232 (1911). 



5 . Head : frons, vertex and back of head black ; frons one- 

 fourth width of head. Epistome bulbous, shining brown, bare ; 

 proboscis normal, yellow ; palpi long, yellow. Antennal scape 

 brownish yellow ; flagellum black, shortly pubescent. Thomx 

 wholly shining black, bare. Abdomen black, microscopically 

 pubescent ; basal two-thirds of second joint and basal half of 

 third joint reddish orange. Tip of last segment and the ovipositor 

 reddish yellow. Legs : coxae reddish yellow ; femora at base con- 

 colorous, deepening to brown at tip ; tibiae and tarsi black. 

 Except the coxae, which are nearly bare, the legs are wholly 

 covered with short thick pubescence. Wings very pale grey, 

 yellowish brown on the costal part ; a dark brown central cross- 

 band along the middle cross-veins from the origin of the 2nd vein 



* Yerh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 1886, p. 171. 



t SB. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, Ixxii (1875), plato. 



+ Denk. Akad. Wiss. Wien, xlvii, pi. i, fig. 18 ; pi. ii, fig. 19. 



