SUBFAMILY I. PIIANEROPTERIN.E. 473 



bushes and trees about the margins of thickets and along fence 

 rows, but in the prairie country north it frequents coarse grasses 

 and weeds in company with the other species. Its flight is noise- 

 less, seemingly without definite direction, and is not so prolonged 

 as that of 8. teaeensis. 



This is the most widely distributed and abundant species of 

 the genus, ranging from Maine, Nova Scotia and Quebec north 

 and west to North Bay, Out., British Columbia and the Pacific 

 coast, and south and west to central Florida, the Gulf coast of 

 Texas, and central California. In a part of its southwestern range 

 it iutergrades with the race or variety S. f. fnrcifera Scudder, full 

 details of the distribution of both forms being given by R. & H. 

 (1914a). In Florida it has been recorded definitely only from 

 Jacksonville, Monticello, 1'ensacola, Gainesville, LaGrange and 

 Lakeland, the last being its most southerly known station in the 

 State. 



Walker (1904a, 328) says: "It seems to be quite generally 

 distributed throughout Ontario as far north as Lake Nipissing, 

 but is commoner in the southern part. It frequents trees and 

 bushes about the edges of woods and thickets on both dry and 

 marshy ground, but most often on the latter. I have also taken 

 it at Agassiz, B. C., w r here it was common on September 9." In 

 Michigan it appears to be scarce, having been definitely recorded 

 only from Huron Co. by Shull. Bruner (1893a) mentions it as 

 found in the middle and southern districts of Nebraska, but less 

 common than curvicauda. The $. fasdata Beut. (1894a, 251) is 

 a synonym. 



C. V. Riley (1874, 109), under the name of 8. curvicauda, gives 

 the following account of the egg-laying habits and call note of 

 furcata ; his figure 51 showing beyond doubt that the latter spe- 

 cies was the one to which he referred : 



"The female stations herself firmly by the middle and hiud legs on 

 twigs or leaves contiguous to the one selected to receive the eggs. This 

 leaf is then grasped by the front feet and held in a vertical position, while 

 the edge is slightly gnawed or pared off by the jaws to facilitate the en- 

 trance of the point of the ovipositor. When this is done the abdomen is 

 curved under and brought foward, and the ovipositor is seized on its con- 

 vex edge by the mandibles and maxillae, which, with the aid of the palpi, 

 guide the point to that portion of the leaf prepared to receive it. After 

 gentle, but repeated efforts, the point of the instrument is finally inserted 

 between the tissues of the leaf, and gradually pushed in to more than half 

 its length. As soon as the cavity is formed, the egg is extruded, and passed 

 slowly between the semi-transparent blades of the ovipositor. As the egg 

 leaves the ovipositor the latter is gradually withdrawn, while the egg re- 



