This type of behaviour seems to be quite common in the Diptera. Exactly = the same sort of male courtship (stroking the female's eyes with the = tarsi) is shown in seaweed flies (Coelopidae: Coelopa frigida). Francis Dr Francis Gilbert Tel 0115-951-3215 Fax 3251 Internet home page http://ibis.nott.ac.uk/~plzfg/francisg.html