58 



Obdee Dipteea. 

 Of Dipteea, or flies, a fair number of genera or species 

 occur, while in number of individuals some species are so 

 prolific that probably only the ants vie with them. On account 

 of their fragility of structure, &c, no great attention bas been 

 paid to their systematic collection, yet 158 species have been 

 obtained in about seventeen genera. Some species of tbe Nemo- 

 cee^;, or long-legged flies, are prominent by their number, 

 thus the genus Gulex furnishes thirteen species, termed com- 

 monly mosquitoes, of which some are only found near water, 

 in which the larvae live, and others in the driest portions of 

 mallee scrub, suggesting a different course of metamorphosis. 

 All are very bloodthirsty, and on two occasions I observed 

 dense clouds of a very small species (not included in the above 

 number) after sunset near Lakes Alexandrina and Albert, that 

 it became difficult to breathe without inhaling some. Tipirta 

 furnishes nine species, the largest of which is gifted with legs 

 nearly two inches long, and as brittle as glass threads ; it 

 inhabits the Barossa Ranges, and does not attack man. Of 

 Cecidomyia, the gall-producing flies, several species exist. An 

 ally, the so-called sandfly, is a very minute insect, scarcely one- 

 twelfth of an inch long, yellowish-grey in colour, and its wings 

 speckled, and is found in cloudlets in sandy parts of the 

 country, flying in the latter part of the afternoon during the 

 spring and summer months. They settle upon any part of a 

 person, move to an exposed part of the skin, and insert their 

 proboscis, thereby causing a pain wholly disproportionate to 

 their size. Each incision produces a minute swelling — produc- 

 ing great annoyance only by their number. The sensation 

 produced may be compared to that of mild scalding. The 

 Asilid^ and their near allies comprise nineteen species, 



Table Showing Families with Number op Genera and Species of 



Dipteea. 



Families. 



No. of 

 Genera. 



No. of 

 Species. 



1. Nemocera 



4. Tabanidse 



5. Muscidae 



Total 



2 

 o 

 4 

 3 



5 



l 

 l 



22 

 36 

 37 

 25 

 24 

 14 



1 



18 159 



