276 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



somewhat misleading, and fail short of an adequate representation. 

 Indeed, it is next to impossible to represent the fly as it appears in actual 

 life, "ambling" across the landscape, for to my mind it resembles a clumsy 

 little black spider more than anything else. 



A neighbour of my boyhood days used to tell me of a fly that he had 

 found at times in the snow, although I believe he called it a *'snow flea," 

 but his ideas on other subjects were peculiar, and I gave scant credence 

 to his fly stories. Professor Lugger and I have several times waded 

 patiently through snow, looking carefully for this insect, but never until 

 last Christmas did I ever see one. My son and myself were walking along 

 a little-used road on top of a bluff at the edge of this city late in December 

 last, when we were met by one of these strange fellows, staggering active- 

 ly along the sleigli track toward us. It was a winter afternoon, the sun 

 almost setting, the snow a foot deep, or more, the surface snow at least 

 ten days old, a cool breeze blowing, and the mercury 15 degrees above 

 zero, Fahr. I recognized him at a glance as I would an old friend, and, 

 gathered him in. It was a male, and when touched feigned death, but in 

 a few seconds started on again. In a vial in the warmth of my pocket it 

 died within a few minutes. 



Two days later my son searched the same vicinity carefully during 

 the forenoon and took two more, a male and female, which mated 

 instantly when bottled together. This pair was kept out of doors that 

 night under an inverted glass on snow, but the next morning were both 

 dead, or nearly so. The snow below the -glass was carefully melted, but 

 no trace of eggs was found. 



The fly appears black when seen against snow, but is really a 

 blackish-gray, the body velvety and soft. The halteres are prominent. 

 The legs are the most striking feature in the make-up of the creature, and 

 are three or four times as long as the body, loosely attached as in the 

 Tipulidce. The body is about three millimetres in length, besides the 

 antennse, which are peculiar in shape and are inadequately represented in 

 the delineations referred to above. 



The life-history of the Snow Fly has been partially worked out in 

 Europe, but under the conditions of life in which it exists in this vicinity 

 it would certainly be exceedingly difficult to follow successfully, except in 

 rare cases. 



