238 NEIW YOIRK STATE MUvSEUM 



In habits our species are somewhat diverse. In general, it 

 may be said that they frequent the borders of the kirger bodies 

 and streams of water, and both in the water and out of it after 

 transformation they cling to the surfaces of stones, piers, tim- 

 bers, bare banks, etc., rather than to vegetation. Imagos may 

 be found squatting on a bare bank much more frequently than 

 clinging to its neighboring ])lauts, but they will travel out among 

 the plants when foraging, following then by preference a bare 

 path or roadway. 



The eggs are deposited mostly on the alga-covered surfaces to 

 w'hich the nymphs will afterward cling. In ovipositing the male 

 usually retains his hold on the prothorax of the female, and 



Fig. 8 Fore wing otArgia fumipennis, with quadrangle (q) of hind wing 



when, as happens frequently with the first species of our list 

 at least, she descends beneath the surface of the water to place 

 her eggs at a lower level, he is carried along. 



The nymphs of Argia are usually recognizable at a glance, by 

 reason of their thick set bodies and short, broad and dark col- 

 ored gills. If tliese be not sufficient, the entire absence of rap- 

 torial setae from the mentum of the labium will certainly dis- 

 tinguish them from all our other genera of Agrioninae. The 

 nymphs are so much alike that a generic description of them 

 may be given here, saving much repetition. 



Nymph. Short and thick and usually dark colored, with short 

 legs and short-oblong gill plates [pl.15, o]. The head is some- 

 what wider than long, flat above, with very prominent eyes, 

 behind which the sides are parallel as far as the obtusely 

 rounded hind angles, between which is a deep round posterior 

 -emargination. The antennae are six 'to seven jointed, with 

 the third joint longest. The labium [pi. 14, e and f] is short, 

 with hinge barely reaching posteriorly to the base of the 



