March, I9I3-] OsBURN : TaBANID^ IN HydrOPHYTIC AreA. 63 



Neolasioptcra Jiibisci Felt inhabits the swollen stems of the swamp 

 rose mallow, Hibiscus inosclieiitos. 



Itonida taxodii Felt produces a conical, globular or elongate defor- 

 mation of the leaf of the bald cypress, Taxodinm. 



Thecodiplosis ananassi Riley causes a fusiform twig gall on the 

 bald cypress, Taxodiin)i. 



Many willows occur in aquatic or semiaquatic environment. A 

 list of the numerous galls occurring upon the different willows is 

 given in Economic Entomology, Journal. 4: 468-69. There are doubt- 

 less in this list, extending from pages 451 to 475, a few other species 

 which have been reared from plants normally growing in an aquatic 

 or semiaquatic environment. 



TABANID^ AS INHABITANTS OF THE 

 HYDROPHYTIC AREA. 



By Raymond C. Osburn, 



New York, N. Y. 



All Tabanidse undergo the larval stage in water and so belong at 

 this time to the hydrophyte fauna, no matter how far afield the 

 adults may roam in search of food. As the males do not attack 

 animals they usually do not wander far and must usually be collected 

 by sweeping the grass at the edges of the streams and swamps where 

 the females naturally return to lay their eggs after feeding. The eggs 

 are usually laid on the stems of grasses over the water and after 

 hatching the young fall into the water. The writer has observed 

 the female of Chrysops fiavidus " dipping " over the water and 

 occasionally touching it with the tip of the abdomen after the manner 

 of many dragonflies, but whether eggs were being deposited in the 

 water during this performance is not known. If so it is the only 

 case known in this group where the eggs are deposited in the water. 



The exact relations of the larvje of Tabanidse to special kinds of 

 aquatic surroundings have not been carefully studied, but some notes 

 and personal observations are at hand which indicate that some varia- 

 tion exists in this matter. A fairly satisfactory clue to the larval 

 habitat is found in the occurrence of the males, which in ordinary cir- 



