These very long-legged gnats live on the juices of plants, and do not sting. The larvæ are legless, without a hard well-marked head; those of most species live in mouldering plant parts (_e.g._ rotten wood), or the decaying manures of our fields and meadows. A few species, however, are very destructive, since they injure roots and other parts of cultivated plants. The adult and larval stages of all the injurious kinds are not yet distinguished. We know that the larvæ of the yellow and spotted _Tipula maculosa_ are chiefly destructive in sandy soil; while more binding clay soil and rich garden earth are infested by the larvæ of _Tipula oleracea_ (Fig. 113), and damp meadows by those of _Tipula paludosa_. The two last-named species are very much like one another; grey or greyish brown with bright brown wings, having dark front margin. Much is still unknown about the habits of “crane flies”; my researches relate to the =Yellow-spotted Crane Fly= (_Tipula maculosa_). The adults fly about in swarms during summer, usually from the beginning of June, in the fields where the larvæ lived in spring. They lay their eggs either in the same fields or (usually) in others, and are blown about for long distances by the wind. Where the flies settle they lay each time two or three black ovoid eggs, bent like a sickle, and repeat this till all the eggs (200 to 250) are laid. Those fields which have previously been grass land are the most infested by the crane flies. The larvæ are headless, grey to lead coloured, with small prickles at the hinder end of the body, and they first appear, in large numbers, under the pieces of turf which are left behind in such fields, and which appear to be the centres from which the destruction of the standing corn begins. The larvæ are hatched out in summer, during the later part of which, and during autumn, they devour plant roots; after hybernating, they again attack the underground parts of plants the following spring. They devour most readily the roots of grass and corn, but also those of clover, rape, and several other plants, including some found in flower and kitchen gardens. They are mainly injurious either in autumn or spring, according to the nature of the plants attacked. Young grain-plants are killed by them, older ones usually not. On fields where winter corn grows they therefore do most damage in autumn, while this is the case in spring on land where summer corn is cultivated. They are sometimes harmless, since they can also feed on roots left behind in the ground. The larva do not limit their ravages to underground parts; in the evening, and also in the daytime during dark damp weather, they devour parts of the first leaves of very young corn plants, though the damage thus effected is often inconsiderable. In May the larva is ready to pass into the pupa stage; it comes near the surface and becomes a brown pupa, bearing small spines on the abdominal rings. After a rest of