PTTCHOPTEEA. 279 



In the practical absence of the peculiar fold in the wing which 

 I have elsewhere termed the " obliterative streak," passing from 

 the stigma to beyond the cliscal cell, the PrrcHOPTEiuyjE approach 

 the LiMtfOBiiwjs. In possessing sixteen joints to the antenna, 

 this subfamily also agrees with the LIMNOBIINJE, but Ptydwptera 

 and at least one other genus (Bittacomorpha) possess a slight pro- 

 longation of the epistoma into something like the nasus of the 

 TiPULiNJE. Ptyckoptera also rests with its wings divaricate, as 

 do most of the latter subfamily. 



The difference in the number of the antennal joints is com- 

 paratively unimportant, considering the variation in this character 

 which occurs amongst the LIMNOJJIIN.E. 



In venation the PtTCJHOPTBEiir^B show considerable variation. 

 A discal cell is sometimes present (Idioplasta, Os. Sac., Tanyderus, 

 Phil., Macrochik, L\v.), or absent (Ptychoptera, Mg., Bittacomorpha, 

 Westw.). One genus (Idioplasta) has no less than six posterior 

 cells, the normal number in the subfamily, however, being three 

 or four. 



Beyond Ptij diopter a (of which only three species are known 

 from the East) only one other species of this family is Oriental 

 Tanyderus ornatissimus, Dol., from Amboina. 



The larval characters of the PTYCHOPTERINMS have been investi- 

 gated by Brauer,* and that biologist considered that as the head 

 of the larva is not imbedded in the thoracic skin, as is the case in 

 the rest of the TIPULID^E, it is justifiable to separate the group as 

 a distinct family. Osten Sacken has also referred to the same 

 subject.f 



Genus PTYCHOPTERA, M<j. 



Pti/choptera, Meigen, Illig. Ma#. ii, p. 162 (1803). 



? Ctenoceria, Rondani, Dipt. Ital. I'rod. i, p. 187 (1856). 



GENOTYPE, Tipula contaminate, L. 



Head transverse, with rather prominent, round, bare eyes. 

 Epistome well arched, nearly perpendicular, terminating in a blunt 

 point. Frons broad in both sexes, flattened. Ocelli wholly absent. 

 Proboscis prominent, with round pubescent labella. Palpi elongate, 

 slender, four-jointed, the last one the longest, but not so con- 

 spicuously longer than the others as in the TIPULIN^E. Antenna? 

 16-jointed, long, prominent, slender, nearly bare ; scapal joints 

 short, the 1st longer than the 2nd ; flagellar joints cylindrical, 1st 

 joint considerably longer than the others, which gradually diminish 

 in length, apical joint sometimes indistinct. Thorax prominently 

 arched, suture almost imperceptible. Scutellurn small, metanotum 

 well developed. Abdomen elongate, often narrowed in middle, 



* Verb, zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 1869, pp. 844-847. 



t Cat. North Amer. Dipt., 1st eel., p. 221, note 36 (1878). 



