PSYCHO DIDiE. 
557 
in the Museum Records the results of a revision of the species in the 
Calcutta collection, and these will be extremely useful to students of the 
systematic side of the subject. Since any lists of species at present known 
would so very soon be useless in view of the rapid expansion of our 
knowledge of Indian flies, we have written this section with the object of 
giving merely a general introduction to their study and some slight idea 
of their habits. 
ORTHORHAPHA NEMOCRRA. 
PSYCHODIDiE. 
Very small hairy moth-like -flies. Wings broad and hairy, meeting 
roof-like over the body as in moths, except in Phlebotomince. Ten 
longitudinal veins, without the usual cross-veins. Wings often clothed 
with scales. 
These curious little flies are often seen in shady rather damp places 
on tree-trunks or bath-room windows. They often run nimbly about in 
little circles, but their flight is feeble. Their vena¬ 
tion is remarkable owing to the absence of any cross¬ 
veins, except near the base of the wing. The larvae 
(fig. 356), generally live in wet or rotting vegetable 
stuff but some are more purely aquatic, with a short 
breathing tube at the tail, while in some species 
(Pericoma), there are a pair of anterior spiracles as 
well as a posterior pair, the latter opening into a 
fringed cup rather similar to that possessed by 
Culicids, Stratiomyiids, and several other aquatic 
larvse. This presence of functional anterior spiracles is a rare condition 
among aquatic larvae. 
Some larvae of Psychodids (fig. 355), found in Brazil, in company 
with those of Blepharoceridce, on rocks about waterfalls, show a curiously 
similar adaptation to life in swiftly running water. 
The normal Psychodid pupa (fig. 357) is in general appearance a 
good deal like that of Lepidoptera, with the addition of a pair of ante¬ 
rior horns through which it breathes while floating in the water or lying 
in damp soil or decayed vegetable matter. 
There are very few genera in this family, but a considerable number 
mm 
Fig. 354-PSYCHODA’ 
x 8. 
