1014 Charles Paul Alexander 



The females are more active when in flight than are their mates and are capable of moving 

 very rapidly. Their flight is a rapid, flutlering progression along the ground. Copulation 

 takes place on either the upper or the lower surface of leaves, usually near the ground. Some- 

 times copulation is end to end, with the heads directed away from each other; at other times 

 it is face to face, the bodies being arcuated into a convex loop. 



The larva almost certainly lives among or beneath the decaying leaves and d^brie which 

 cover the talus slope. 



Tipula macrolabis Loew 



18&i Tipula macrolabis Loew. Berl. Ent. Ztschr., vol. 8, p. 58. 



Tipula macrolabis is distinctly northern in its distribution. It is a 



characteristic fly of northern deciduous woods in June. The following 



notes were made near the village of Indian Castle, Herkimer County, 



New York, on June 13, 1915: 



A email woodland stream with a forest cover of trees such as hemlock, beech, slippery 

 elm, and basswood, and a ground cover of false Solomon's seal, wood nettle, wild ginger, 

 herb robert, touch-me-not, waterleaf, sarsaparilla, and the two abundant ferns maidenhair 

 and the bulbous bladder fern. The males of T. macrolabis were in search of the females, 

 and fluttered up the tree trunks often to a height of ten or fifteen feet, flying close to the 

 ground, around brush heaps, hovering about the leafy ends of branches, and performing 

 similar actions in their untiring quest for their mates. They occurred in company with 

 males of T. fuliginosa and T. valida, which were similarly engaged in searching for the females. 



Tipuline No. 1 (possibly Tipula iroquois Alex.) 



1863 Tipula cincta Loew. Berl. Ent. Ztschr., vol. 7, p. 288-289, not T. cincta Gmel, 



Syst. Nat., ed. 13, vol. 1, p. 2820 (1792). 

 1915 Tipula iroquois Alex. Insec. Inscit. Menst., vol. 3, p. 128. 



The larva discussed below has never been reared and is mentioned 

 here principally because of its interesting habitat. It is referred to 

 Tipula iroquois with considerable doubt. 



The larva lives among dense mats of an aquatic moss, a Hypnum 

 (Rhynchostegium) of the dilatatum group, in the most rapid-flowing 

 streams. At Coy Glen, Ithaca, New York, these larvae are especially 

 frequent, often living at the brink of falls or rapids in the most rushing 

 waters. A study of the structure of the larva reveals numerous small 

 but prominent tubercles, which doubtless assist the insect in clinging to 

 the moss stems. The gills are large, but no better developed than in 

 many aquatic species of the genus that live in much less lotic conditions. 

 The green color and the transverse rows of tuljcrcles on the body give the 

 larva a strong resemblance to its mossy habitat. The larvae are very 

 sluggish and crawl but slowly, often appearing quite dead for long periods 

 of time. 



