132 INJURIOUS AND USEFUL INSECTS 



situation upon or just beneath the surface of the ground. 

 After laying a cluster of eggs, the female flies to a distance, 

 and repeats the operation. The eggs are of small size and 

 nearly black. Some hundreds are laid by a single female. 



The insect passes the winter as an underground larva. In 

 spring the pupae appear, and shortly afterwards, the winged 

 flies. Egg-laying follows, and during a great part of the 

 summer but few flies are to be seen. In August or 

 September a second brood of flies make their appearance, and 

 lay eggs from which the winter larvae are derived. The 

 crane-fly seems to prefer damp grass, and often abounds in 

 neglected marshy fields, though it is by no means confined 

 to such situations. 



It is easy to recognise the near relationship of the crane- 

 fly to Chironomus. The simple, many-jointed feelers, as well 

 as the mouth-parts of the imago, indicate that it belongs 

 to the same primary division of Diptera Nemocera. Only 

 the Nemocera possess long palps of several joints like those 

 of the crane-fly. The larval head, too, and the structure of 

 the larval mouth-parts, are not unlike those of Chironomus. 

 The most noteworthy differences between the two insects are 

 immediately connected with the elements which they inhabit 

 as larvEe and pupae. The subterranean larva of the crane-fly 

 has a large pair of open spiracles on the last segment, which 

 is usually turned upwards when the larva is burrowing or 

 feeding. In the aquatic blood-worm, as we have seen, there 

 are no open spiracles at all, and gills, adapted to aquatic 

 respiration, take their place. The pupa of the crane-fly 

 breathes by open trumpets ; the Chironomus-pupa by branched 

 gills projecting from the same part of the body (prothorax). 

 It is probable that the terrestrial crane-fly is the more 

 primitive oflhe two ; and that subterranean larvae, inhabiting 

 wet earth near streams, became at length adapted to live under 

 water. 



This is apt to be a most intractable pest, and it is very 

 difficult to reach the eggs or grubs by any treatment. The 

 draining of wet grass-land is sometimes beneficial, and the 

 penning of sheep upon infested ground, at the time when 

 the pupa or fly is expected, has been practised with success. 



