LONCHOPTERIDJS. 
609 
This small family is useful in the scavenging way, and it is 
necessary for the student to be familiar with the flies, since the larvae 
Fig. 401— Phorid pupa from a dead 
COCKROACH X 16. 
the mischief was done by some 
other insect and the Phorid larvae 
have merely come in afterwards to 
clear off the remains. 
The European Phoridce have 
been monographed by Becker (Abh. 
Zool-Bot. Ges. Wien., Vol. I, 1901), 
and more recently the whole family 
has been dealt with by Brues (Gen. 
Insectorum, Phoridae). The latter 
includes the following six species 
as Indian: there are certainly 
many more. 
breed in almost any situa¬ 
tion where they ’ can get 
decaying vegetable matter? 
and owing to this they are 
often mistaken for pests, 
because they may have 
been found feeding on a 
damaged plant : in reality 
Phorid inhabiting the nests of 
Termites in India. 
(After Brues.) 
Aphiochceta apicalis , Brues, 
,, limbata ,, 
,, tibialis ,, 
,, pulicaris ,, 
Chonocephalus similis „ 
Termitoxenia heimi Wasm. 
Bombay. 
India. 
Asia. (?) 
India. 
,, (in termites’ nests). 
LONCHOPTERIDiE. 
Small flies , with short antennce, 3rd joint simple, with a terminal arista. 
Wings shaped like a leaf or spear-head. Venation 
characteristic (fig. 401). 
These little flies all belong to one genus (Lonchoptera). They are com¬ 
mon in England about the grassy margins of brooks, but little is known 
of their life-history, which appears in some respects peculiar. They look 
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