202 AN ACCOUNT OF BRITISH FLIES. 
brown; in the 2 the antennz are brown, with yellow base and 
yellow bands; first eight joints oval, next six elliptical and long. © 
Wings slightly yellowish towards costa in the 9. Legs tawny, dark 
at the tips of the femora, tibiz, and tarsi; anterior femora armed 
with seventeen spines, middle with four, posterior with three ; a thick 
bristle on side of hind plantz. Length, 1 to 2 lin. Common and 
generally distributed ; often in large clouds over stagnant water. 
C. morio, F. 
C. ater, Mg. 
C. rufitarsis, Mg. 
\ C. armatus, Mg. 
C. femoratus, F. = 
Shining black. Antenne in ¢ with plumes glistening white 
towards their tips. Wings slightly milky, with brownish tinge; veins 
pale brown. Legs tawny; tarsi pale; joints, as usual, darker near 
their apex; hind femora thickly spinose beneath, slightly spinose 
above; long and incrassate; in the ¢ the claws are slender, and 
of equal length on all the tarsi; in the 9 those of the anterior tarsi 
are equal ; on the hind tarsi one claw is four times the length of the 
other. Length, 1 to 14 lin. A common species, and met with in 
most places; subject to great variation, twelve distinct varieties 
being described by Winnertz. 
Additional Notes on Chironomus Larve. 
Some notes have been kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. 
Swainson, F.L.S., those concerning the supposed annelid Compontia 
cruciformis (of Johnston), which is now shown to be a Chironomus 
larva, and which, from the figure sent, is evidently the same as the 
Win) 
—$ 
FiG. 43.—Compontia cruciformis. Probably the larva of 7. Frauenfeldz. 
larvee found by me in Guernsey (p. 171), being particularly interest- 
ing. I append the more important parts of Mr. Swainson’s notes: 
‘*In October last, on our Golf Links at St. Anne’s-on-Sea, I found several 
larvee of Chironomus, fully grown, in its splendid blood-red colour. These I kept 
during the winter, and watched their metamorphoses in small glass jars with the 
tops covered with muslin. They ultimately turned out to be C. dorsalis, and 
their resemblance to Comfontia cruciformzs in all but colour is most remarkable. 
The hemoglobin which colours the ‘ harlequin’ larva so beautifully is replaced in 
