370 NATURAL ARRANGEMEXT OF INSECTS. 



frequent. Thus we have Culiciform T'lpulai, terricole 

 Tipulte, fungicole Tipulce, gallicole TipulcB, and floral 

 Tipulce. They have been very aptly compared, from 

 the multitude of tribes, genera, and species occurring 

 in them, to the large coleopterous families of Curculi- 

 onidce and Carahidm, wherein Nature exhibits an inex- 

 haustible diversity, combined with a typical unity : but 

 we must hasten on, with merely observing, that in the 

 TipulcB they exhibit to us the largest native Diptera; 

 and in Ctenophora we find the most elegant structure of 

 the antennae, which are bipectinated, in the males, with 

 alternate long and short branches. And in Chironoynus 

 we have the extraordinary instance of larvs living in a 

 social community at the bottom of ponds and brooks. 

 We also find amongst them the remarkable little Chio- 

 nea, which, as its name signifies, occurs only on the 

 snow ; and which, from its being apterous, has very 

 much the appearance of a spider : and the North 

 American Bittacomorphn is remarkable for the excessive 

 incrassation of its tarsi. Among the fungivorous Ti- 

 puloE, the genus Gnonsta has a singular elongation of 

 its head and front ; this produced portion being half as 

 long again as the head itself. Ceddomya and Lasi- 

 optera are the representatives of the gallicole Tipulce; 

 and, like the Cynipidce amongst the Hymenoptera, their 

 larvae live in the galls of plants, which the puncture of 

 the parent insect forms ; and it is amongst the former 

 that the terrific destroyer of wheat is found, which is 

 known in America by the name of the " Hessian fly ; " 

 as also in the tribe of floral Tipulce, we find the genus 

 Simulium, which use their anterior tarsi as feelers; and 

 the number of the individuals of which, in some coun- 

 tries, is so great, that they become an oppressive pest 

 to man and animals. 



(330.) The second division, or Brachocera, have 

 never more than three joints to the antenniE, — the last of 

 which, however, undergoes a multitude of forms, and is 

 usually accompanied with a style, or seta : they are sub- 

 divided into three smaller divisions, depending upon the 



