62 6 
DIPT ERA. 
there are really a large number, and the remarkable forms and habits 
of many of the larvae should make the study of the Indian Ephydrids 
an interesting one. 
Becker’s monograph (Dipterologische Studien IV. Ephydridae 
Berlin Ent. Zeit. 1896) gives full information about this family. 
Chloropid^;. 
Small shining dark-coloured or yellowish flies. Head hemispherical. 
Yihrissce generally absent. Front broad, sometimes with bristles at 
the vertex. Fiscal and 2nd basal cell united. No distinct anal cell. 
Wings and legs short. No preapical bristle on the tibice. 
The members of this family sometimes do considerable damage in 
Europe and America by the larvae burrowing in the leaves of sugar-beet 
Fig. 412— Larva, Pupa (c) and imago of Oscinis the.e, 
with mined Tea Leaf. 
(From Ind Mus. Notes.) 
or in the stems of wheat, oats, and other grain crops, while some inhabit 
galls on the stems of grasses. The duration of development from egg to 
imago is given by Howard in the case of an American Chloropid as about 
three weeks. The flies are common in the plains, and though stem¬ 
boring Chloropids are not yet known seriously to damage Indian cereals, 
cases of such damage will not improbably be found occasionally to occur. 
Insects of this type are extremely difficult to deal with, since if the fly 
once succeeds in laying its eggs nothing can save the plant. Failing the 
presence of efficient parasites little can be done save early removal and 
