The Crane-Flies of New York — Part II 879 



distances before alighting as is shown toward sunset when they fly for long stretches up- 

 stream. The males are rather poor fliers, due in part, possibly, to the weight of the long 

 antennae and, as stated before, this sex prefers to skulk rather than fly. When the males 

 fly, they do so heavily and seize the first support that they collide with and hang on, occasion- 

 ally flying on immc^diately to another support. When the male comes in contact with a stem, 

 he very often ascends to the top by means of a part-flying, pan-climbing motion and, on reach- 

 ing the summit, flies off to another place. As a rule the flies, especially the females, alight on 

 a single grassblade, but very often the males are observed on two blades, the legs of one side 

 on one blade and those of the opposite side on the other; when the body thus hangs between 

 the stalks, the tarsi diverge from one another, whereas on a single support, the legs converge. 



Hexatoma was preyed upon by lirge numbers of a scatophagid fly that occurred in great 

 abundance in this vicinity and seemed to be subsisting almost entirely on these Iflies. At 

 least twenty of these pred'ice:}us flies were noted with Hexatoraae and this species seemed 

 to constitute the principle insect enemy of the crane-fly. They would lurk on the grass 

 blades and sally forth after their prey, carrying it back to some point to feed upon it. It is 

 probable that the blood is taken since the body of the Hexatoma appeared almost uninjured 

 when examined. On an old beam where males had a habit of walking up the vertical face, 

 a small spider's web was found, in which eleven specimens were entangled, two being still 

 alive; eight of these were males, the remaining three, females. 



The males especially can walk up smooth surfaces, as glass, moving the legs alternately 

 and awkwardly. The first pair taken were in copulation but in placing them in the vial 

 they became disengaged and ran about in the container. After a short time they began to 

 copulate in the tube. 



May 15, 1911 — A pair were taken in copulation at 10 a.m.; at 8 p.m. they were still in 

 coitu, but this is exceptional as most of the pairs disengage very readily. In the morning 

 the species is very active and although the males do not fly far, they fly readily and it is 

 difficult to pick them up by hand. The females are excellent fliers especially m the morning. 



Several pairs were taken in copulation and each pair was isolated in a separate vial in order 

 to ascertain the number of eggs per female. The clutch was determined by dissection. 

 When the captive insects began to oviposit, the eggs shot out from ihe body, at first slowly, 

 then more rapidly, one per second, later much slower again, the eggs being extruded one at 

 a time. The total period of o'l/iposition required seven minutes; at the end of sixty seconds, 

 in the space between sixty and seventy seconds, eighteen eggs were laid, or 1.8 per second. 

 Toward the end of egg-laying, the eggs appeared much more slowly, one in two seconds. The 

 eggs are quite sticky or viscid and adhere to the glass. When the female is in danger of 

 death, as when she falls into the water, she begins, at once, to deposit the egg-complement. 

 In nature it seems probable that one egg is laid at each descent to the water. As soon as 

 the female touches the water, although she has not deposited an egg all day, she immediately 

 starts to deposit the oblong black eggs. After the last egg is expelled the muscles of the 

 ovipositor still go through the motions of expulsion. One specimen was placed in the water 

 and as usual began to deposit her eggs. She was decapitated, laid eleven eggs and tried to 

 lay still more but failed. The number of eggs laid varied from 316 to 372 with an average 

 of 347; the time required for ovnposition varied from seven minutes to seven minutes and forty 

 seconds. In most cases the number of the egg-complement is probably between 300 and 400. 



J 



The greater part of the larval existence is probably spent in the water, 



and it is only when the larvae are fully grown and ready to pupate that 



they come to land. On April 26, 1914, gravel from the bank of Casca- 



dilla Creek was carefully examined, but no signs of larvae or pupae were 



to be discovered. On May 6, however, the same bank was examined 



and about ten larvae and seventy-five pupae were found. Sometimes the 



immature stages are very abundant. On May 12, 1917, near the place 



