276 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [June, 'l6 



spite of the reversal of position the rear insect had no trouble 

 in keeping up the race running backward, but I sometimes 

 suspected that the female pulled him along with her while she 

 was trying to get away. One might watch an active group for 

 fifteen or even thirty minutes before seeing a case of this 

 mating. 



In watching them circle about in their dance I was not able 

 at any time to observe a male chasing any one female, but when 

 a pair was on a leaf ready to mate, or actually mating, several 

 others would alight on the same leaf, attempt to mate and 

 make life miserable for the couple, and usually break up the 

 marriage. Perhaps this accounts for the instantaneous mat- 

 ings, since either opposition from the female or interference 

 by other males makes it necessary. Sometimes three or 

 four males were together in a heap, fighting for the possession 

 of the female, but in these cases I think the female in question 

 must have been a very attractive one, as I shall show in one 

 case later. 



Their very behavior led me to suspect that they were 

 polygamous, and I personally observed enough repeated mat- 

 ings among them to confirm this impression and to make me 

 sure that they are freely polygamous, although in a few in- 

 stances I saw among them some slight expression of prefer- 

 ence for certain mates. One pair mated in my presence and 

 immediately a second male came along and separated them, 

 pushed the rightful owner to the other end of the leaf and at- 

 tempted to mate. The wife was faithful to the first, however, 

 freed herself from the impostor, went to the other end of the 

 leaf and again mated with her husband for the usual duration 

 of a few seconds, walked to the end of the leaf and soared off 

 on the wing to join her comrades in the dance. (They usually 

 walked to*the end of the leaf to take flight back to their group.) 



The one case observed which, I was sure, was an actual 

 copulation was of somewhat longer duration. They were 

 united when I discovered them ; how long they had been there 

 I know not. Others soon tried to crowd in, and still others 

 were on the same leaf. In an instant they were all one teem- 

 ing mass of struggling life,' many males burying the couple. 



