TIPULID^E. 265 



Three dark brown stripes of normal pattern, the outer ones con- 

 tinued much further forward than in the last species ; dorsum 

 between the stripes greyish. Scutellum yellowish ; metanotum 

 dark brown. Sides of thorax yellowish, with brown markings. 

 Abdomen blackish, with whitish pubescence ; belly similar. Legs 

 pale yellowish, knees almost imperceptibly black, tarsi darker; 

 hind tibise with the slight incrassation at the tip as usual, but 

 yellowish. Wings very pale grey, a rather dark brown narrow 

 short streak in the centre over the cross-veins, not extending to 

 the posterior cross-vein. A pale blackish streak filling the basal 

 half of the anal cell. Halteres pale yellow. 



Length nearly 3 rnillim. 



Described from a single female taken by Dr. Annandale at 

 Phagu, 9000 ft., in the Simla district, 12.V.09. 



Type in the Indian Museum. 



This species is very near D. bistriata, and may possibly be 

 identical with it. The differences lie in the respective lengths of 

 the 1st scapal joint and in the lengths of the thoracic stripes ; while 

 the tips of the femora and tibia3 are black-ringed in one species and 

 practically all yellow in the other. The wing markings in the two 

 species may be differentiated as follows : In bifasciata the central 

 streak stops before or at the posterior cross- vein, this vein itself 

 not being at all suffused, whilst in bistriata the suffusion is con- 

 tinued narrowly to the posterior margin. The basal pale streak 

 in the anal cell is much more distinct in bifasciata than in 

 bistriata. When placed side by side the two forms appear 

 distinct, although the descriptions may appear very similar. 



Family TIPULID^E. 



The members of this family are almost too well known to need 

 much description. In England they are generally known as 

 " daddy-long-legs," and in America as " crane-flies." 



The" principal characters of the TIPULID.E, as enunciated by 

 Baron Osten Sacken, are: (1) the presence of the V-shaped 

 dorsal suture transversely across the mesonotum; * (2) the 

 extent and completeness of the venation ; and (3) the structure 

 of the ovipositor in the female; these three characters being 

 practically constant throughout the whole family. 



* In the subfamily PTYCHOPTERIN.E, the V-shaped or "transTerse" suture is 

 indistinct (possibly absent in some cases), but the species are comparatively 

 few in number and always essentially tipulidiform in character, so that their 

 relegation to this family is fairly obvious at first sight. This suture is present 

 in no other family of the NEMATOCERA, except in incomplete form in some 

 BLEPHAROCERID^E. 



