CHAPTER X 



Order Diptera (continued) : Schizopliora : The Muscoidea 



In the flies of this division, the frontal lunula is distinct and 

 there is a frontal suture (Fig. lo). The antennae consist of 

 3 simple segments and an arista which is almost always 

 dorsal. None of the longitudinal veins is forked. Two 

 groups are here included, namely, the Muscoidea, of which 

 the house-fly is a type, and the Pupipara, or " Tick-flies." 

 As a rule, to which, however, there are exceptions, the 

 Muscoidea lay numerous eggs, and these give rise to 

 maggots more or less similar to that represented in Fig. 53, 

 whereas the Pupipara, so far as is known, produce — one at a 

 birth — full-grown larvae on the verge of pupation. 



A. The Muscoidea, or Eumyidea. 



The families of Muscoidea are arranged in two series, 

 namely (a) Muscoidea Acalyptrata (d privative, and KaXv-Trrpa 

 = a cover), in which the squamae are so small that they do 

 not conceal the halteres in a dorsal view, and (b) Calyptrata 

 {KaK\j'KTpa = ^. cover), in which the squamae are so large that 

 they conceal the halteres. 



(a) Acalyptrate Muscoidea. 



There are more than twenty families of Acalyptrata, of 

 which only the following need be noticed : 



Family CONOPID^. Elongate flies commonly with a 

 constricted "waist," and often resembling wasps and bees. 

 The wing-venation is much like that of a house-fly, but the 

 basal and anal cells are all large. The genitalia are 

 conspicuous. The proboscis is slender and elongate, but is 

 used for extracting nectar from flowers, not for sucking 



