U. S. D. A., B. E. Bui. 85, Part VII. C. F. I. I., October 7, 1910. 



PAPERS ON CEREAL AND FORAGE INSECTS. 



THE SMOKY CRANE-FLY. 



(Tipula infuscata Loew.) 



By James A. Hyslop, 

 Agent and Expert. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The maggots or larva? of the Tipulidae are known in the several 

 parts of this country by many local names, among which, perhaps, 

 the most generally applied are " meadow-maggots, 7 ' " leather-jackets," 

 " grubs," and " cutworms." The last name has proved most unfor- 

 tunate, leading to great confusion in Departmental and station corre- 

 spondence, and has arisen from a mistaken, though very prevalent, 

 impression among farmers that these larvae are the same as the true 

 cutworms, and that in late spring when the weather conditions are 

 favorable the so-called " cutworms " come to the surface of the 

 ground where they " burst " from exposure to the sun's rays. The 

 larvae, for it is in the larval stage of development exclusively that 

 these insects are of economic importance to the farmer, are really 

 the young of several species of crane-flies — also known as " galli- 

 nippers," " giant mosquitoes," and " daddy-long-legs." The last 

 name, however, is sometimes applied to the eight-legged and wingless 

 harvest spiders (Phalangidae). 



A comprehensive economic treatment of this family of insects, as 

 such, is impossible at the present time, owing to the necessarily frag- 

 mentary condition of our knowledge of the early stages of most of 

 the species and the great diversity of habits exhibited by those which 

 have been studied. In mode of living they range from the aquatic 



Note. — The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance, received in pre- 

 paring this paper, of Messrs. Nathan Banks, Frederick Knab, and D. W. 

 Coquillett, who critically reviewed the technical descriptions, and of Mr. R. E. 

 Snodgrass, who prepared the anatomical drawings of the larval head. The 

 other illustrations were prepared by Mr. J. F. Strauss and the author. 



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