Mr. Lubbock on the Development of Lonchoptera. 339 



identified it for me as a species of Lotichoptera (probably L. luteal 

 P.), and thereby proved the accuracy of Mr. Westwood's opinion, 

 since Lonchoptera is placed by that gentleman in the same family 

 with Platypeza ; and though Mr. Walker separates the Platy- 

 pezidcB from the Lonchopteridce, still in his arrangement these two 

 families come next to one another. 



As the small active flies forming the genus Lonchoptera are said 

 by Mr. Walker (Diptera Britannica, vol. i. p. 223) to " abound 

 from the beginning of spring till the end of autumn, on shores, 

 marshy woods, and in most grassy spots," it seems extraordinary, 

 that their transformations should be altogether unknown. Still I 

 am able to find no description of them, and as the group is one, 

 according to Mr. Westwood, " of difficult location" (Westwood's 

 Introduction to the Modern Classification of Insects, vol. ii. 

 p. 5.54), a short account of the development will probably not 

 be considered out of place in the Transactions of the Entomo- 

 logical Society, particularly as the transformations do not appear 

 altogether to favour the views generally held as to the affinities of 

 these genera. 



The larva of Lonchoptera is transparent, tending to brown ; 

 when full grown it is about one seventh of an inch in length 

 and one thirteenth of an inch in bi'eadth, being, when the head 

 is retracted, of an oval form ; in shape it is much depressed. 

 Seen from above, the body, exclusive of the first division or 

 head, consists of nine segments, which project laterally beyond 

 the softer parts, and beneath which the anterior segment can be 

 altogether retracted. A peculiar and elegant appearance is given 

 to the larva by the presence of four long setae in front and two at 

 the posterior extremity, as well as by the ornamentation of the 

 lateral margins. The posterior segment has three, the seven 

 preceding have two small spines on each side. Along the sides 

 between the spines on all these segments, and along the posterior 

 margins of the seven posterior, as well as on the first margin of 

 the first thoracic segment, are a number of dark brown lines, 

 about -goVoths of an inch in length (those, however, on each side 

 of the spines being much shorter), and about -j^^g^ths of an inch 

 from one another ; they lie at right angles with the margins of the 

 segments, and are connected at the base by a shaded line, so as 

 altogether to form a very pretty and peculiar border. This 

 border is in fact produced by a great number of oblong processes 

 of the integument, the brown lines being the lines of junction 

 between them, as may occasionally be seen when any of the 

 processes are accidentally detached from one another, as in PI. XI. 



