TWO-WINGED FLIES. 225 



insect, these pupae thrust themselves halfway out of 

 the circular hole in which they have been resident, 

 and even after the insects have escaped, the empty 

 cases may be seen protruding from the holes in the 

 bark and wood. The fly is something like a small 

 gnat, with a dark grey body, terminated, in the case 

 of the female, by a long borer, which enables the 

 insect to introduce its eggs in the crevices of bark. 



A similar midge has been known to attack poplars, 

 but those already named will be sufficient illustrations 

 of a numerous group of destructive little insects. 



Daddy Long-legs and Old Father Long-legs are 

 the trivial names given to the large gnats, which in 

 autumn are swarming in our pasture-lands, fields, and 

 pleasure-grounds, and in some gardens bordering on 

 low lands they are frequently abundant. In the 

 United States it is the spider-like creature called 

 Harvestman which is called Daddy Long-legs. 

 Familiar as every child is with Daddy Long-legs, its 

 transformations and history are but imperfectly known, 

 and even cultivators seldom suspect that the surface 

 grubs, or Leather Jackets, as the dirty-looking larvae 

 are called which do so much mischief in market- 

 gardens, are the offspring of our old and familiar ac- 

 quaintance. It is impossible to glance along palings, 

 rails, and even on tree-trunks near parks and grassy 

 places, in September or early in October, without ob- 

 serving these gnats, especially in the morning, with 

 legs extended and wings half-spread, under the shade 

 of thorns and trees, five-sixths of these insects being 

 females. Even later in chill and frosty mornings they 

 are often abundant, hanging by their fore-feet, cheer- 

 Q 



