SPIDERS AND INSECTS OTHER THAN ANTS 387 



The female laid eggs. He also observed a male Larentia bilineata 

 copulating with a female Acidalia aversata. Next morning both 

 were dead; no eggs were laid. 



Hinds and Turner (29) find that the rice-weevil (Calandra 

 oryza L.) may mate within twenty-four hours after emergence, 

 and that it is both polyandrous and polygamous. 



E. N. Cory (18) describes in detail the copulation of Sanni- 

 noidea exitiosa Say. He finds that copulation always occurs 

 on some support, and that a pair remains in copulo from 51 to 

 82 minutes. 



A. F. Burgess (15) states that the beetles of the species Calo- 

 soma sycophanta copulate several times during the summer. 

 Between June 27 and July 26, one pair was observed to copu- 

 late thirteen times. 



Burgess (15) placed a trap cage containing adult females of 

 the species Calosoma sycophanta in the open, half a mile from 

 any trees. No males entered the trap. A trap cage containing 

 female C. sycophantas was placed in an open space at least two 

 miles from any males. Males were liberated at distances of 

 one half mile, one mile, etc. No males entered the trap. 



C. H. Turner (58) describes in detail the mating of a parasitic 

 bee of the family Stelidae. These bees were noticed to mate 

 in both the sunshine and the shade; but always on a vertical 

 or horizontal support, never on the wing. 



That certain syrphid flies hover before flowers for long stretches 

 of time, and that several other species of flies engage in a kind 

 of a dance, in which the heads of all of the flies are directed the 

 same way, has been known for several years. By some people 

 the first phenomenon is considered evidence that these flies 

 possess an aesthetic taste ; by entomologists the second is usually 

 considered an anemotropism. A desire to obtain a rational ex- 

 planation for these two types of behavior caused Perez (46) to 

 make a careful study of the hovering of one species of fly and of 

 the aerial dances of several. He noticed that Syrphus le balteatus 

 Degh. hovers in practically a stationary position before a flower 

 or object for a while and then suddenly darts to one side or to 

 the other. Plateau noticed that the hand can be interposed 

 between the fly and the flower without the fly's giving any 

 indication that it notices the substitution. He also observed 

 that if the hand be moved to right or to the left, forward or 



