AQUATIC INSECTS IX NEW YORK STATE 243 



1893-95 Arg i a V i oKa c ea Calvert, N. Y. Ent. Soc. Jour. 3:43 aud 

 5:92 (listed frona Keeseville, Dobbs Ferry, Ithaca and Buffalo) 



1899 A r g i a v i o 1 a c e a Kellicott, Odon. Ohio, p.2o (description) 



1900 A r g i a v i o 1 a c e a Williamson, Dragon Flies lud. p.2G2 (de- 



scription) 



1901 Argia violacea Xeedham, N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 47, p.4i»2, 



405, 407 (occurrence at Saranac Inni 



This species is one of the most generalh' distributed in the 

 northeastern United States. In habitat it approaches species 

 of Lestes and EnaHagma, dwelling by ditches and slow streams, 

 and in the bays of larger bodies of standing water. The beau- 

 tiful violaceous color of the adult males in life is fairly dis- 

 tinctive of the species, and has suggested the specific name. 



This species like the preceding oviposits commonly in mats 

 of algae lying at the edge of the water, or covering floating 

 vegetation. On such mats I have frequently seen many 

 females at work side by side, each with a male clasping her 

 prothorax with his forceps, his body sticking up straight in air, 

 his legs and wings placidly fokU'd. This curious position, 

 standing, as it were, on the tip of the abdomen, is assumed, 

 I think, not so much on account of the male trying to avoid 

 the water, as Kellicott has suggested.^ as on account of the 

 greater ease of maintaining This position. The inferior append- 

 ages of the male are so much longer than the superiors that 

 were the male to remain with his feet on the ground, when 

 the female depresses her abdomen in ovipositing, the flexion 

 of his body would be extreme, and perhaps uncomfortable. At 

 any rate, he takes the elevated position very philosophically, 

 folds his legs and waits till his sponse gets ready to let him 

 down; and, when she wants to move from place to place, he 

 uses his wings to help her. 



Nymph. Length lOmm, gills 4mm additional, abdomen Gmm; 

 width of head 3mm. Antennae six jointed. Median lobe of 

 labium less prominent than in the other species. Lateral setae 

 three. Wings reaching well on the sixth abdominal segment. 

 Gills ovate broadly, obtuse, with the margins hardly parallel 

 anywhere, an obscure transverse paler streak at three fourths 

 their leng-th. 



1 Cincinnati See. Nat. Hist. Jour. 17:203 



