562 
DIPTKRA. 
protecting envelope. The stages of a common Indian Chironomid are 
shown on Plate LX, figs. 3, 3 a, 3 b, 3c. 
The larvae are worm-shaped, with characteristic leg-like processes 
on the first and last segments, and swim with a lashing motion. They 
are sometimes red (the “ blood¬ 
worms ’ ’ of the British water-butt) 
and have gills and real red blood like 
fish (their tracheal system being then 
merely rudimentary), or they may be 
greenish and breathe in the ordinary 
way by well developed tracheal tubes. 
Sometimes the larvae live free, but 
more usually they inhabit burrows 
in the mud or live in little tubes con¬ 
structed of bits of algae or similar 
substances. They have occasionally 
been found living at great depths. 
The pupae are active, and are fur¬ 
nished with tufted gills instead of 
found in aquatic pupae. They generally occupy the larval tubes, 
where they lie gently undulating the 
abdomen so as to create a current of 
fresh water through the tube. When 
the fly is ready to emerge, the pupa 
leaves its shelter and swims to the 
surface, whereupon the imago escapes 
from the pupal skin in the same way 
as a mosquito. 
The sub-family Ceratopogonince is 
of interest, as it comprises a number 
of species which are blood-suckers, 
some of them of a very determined 
nature. Here belong those “ midges ” 
which in England, and especially in 
Scotland, often cause by their attacks 
Fig 36 pusA RA x°24 G ° N SP an ann °y ance ou t of all proportion to 
the minute size of the blood-thirsty 
Fig. 360— Ceuatopooon sp. 
Nasik. x 16. 
the breathing-horns usually 
