IMl THK CAXAOIAN HNT<»M(»L«MJ18T. 



In my descriptions above. 1 liave included ihis j>)inilcl as a part of ihc 

 ihird, because, in fact. I have taken ntj account of it, tlie dimensions oi 

 this joint l)eing taken as that part of it from the tip of the second joint to 

 the insertion of the fourth. 



A male and a female Microvelia americana, which came to maturity 

 on October 2nd, mated on the 4tli, and the female was noticeably swollen 

 with ova by the 5ih. On December 31st of tiiat year, the female died, 

 being under artificial conditions, and without food, but not before- 

 depositing several batches of eggs, which batched out in due course. 

 yielding nymphs which in some cases attained the first and second 

 instars. The males lived on into January, when they too perished, afier 

 being fed no flies for over two months. 



Summarizing, the bred insects had seven instars, one embryonic, fjve 

 nymphal, and one adult, which took between 36 and 46 days for 

 accomplishment. This would make jiossible several broods in the course 



1 of the year. Assuming that the ova are deposited about the middle of 

 .April, which would not be any too early in a normal spring, there would 

 be adults from these by June 30th. which in turn breeding, would give a 

 generation maturing about the first half of July ; this brood would in turn 

 re|)roduce itself, and adults would be forthcoming, since the season would 

 be at its most favourable time for quick development, say by about the 

 same time in August. The .August progeny, in due course of nature, 

 would see another generation under the favourable weather conditions of 



•that period of summer, including the dog-days, by about the same time in 

 September, and these, reproducing themselves, would by the end of 

 October know that the generation to carry the species to the next year 

 had attained its growth. We thus see that there may be as many as five 

 generations in the course of a single summer. This, however, seems to 

 me the least that they would do. .As a matter of fact, it is sc.ircely 

 possible to compute what would actually occur in nature, because, since 

 oviposition is practually continuous, and one female may live say for a 

 month while ovipositing, there is any number of overlapping brooks to 

 contend with, but it seems to be reasonable to estimate them as an average 

 of five a summer, or |)ossibly six. 



In conclusion, 1 wish to point out that this species, Microvelia 

 amfricana Uhler, may turn out to be the type of a new subgenus, charac- 

 terized by having the anterior tarsi single jointed, and the two others 



two-jointed, as op|)oscd to .\fiirove/ia proper, which is said to have the tarsi 

 two-, three-, three jointed, lor tlii'^ I propose the nanu- KIRK \I.1)V.\. 

 in memory of my friend. 



