WINTER INSECTS OF EASTERN NEW YORK. 243 



from the surface which they ramify. The poisers are obscure-brownish, 

 truncated at their apices, the capitulum being in the form of a reversed 

 triangle. The abdoifum in the females is shorter than the wings, somewhat 

 compressed, approaching to an ovate form when viewed laterally, with the 

 venter often of a dull brownish tinge ; in the males it projects beyond 

 the tips of the wings, is slender, cylindrical or very slightly tapered 

 toward the tip, with some of the terminal segments separated by a strong 

 contraction. 



This is a very common species, appearing upon the snow in the winter 

 season, and upon fences, windows, etc., in the fore part of spring, the 

 males and the females being about equally numerous. The beautiful plumose 

 antennae of the former distinguish them at a glance from all other insects 

 abroad at this season. At times they may be met with in immense swarms. 

 April 27th, 1846, in a forest, for the distance of a fourth of a mile, they 

 occurred in such countless myriads as to prove no small annoyance to the 

 passer, getting into his mouth, nostrils and ears at every step, and literally 

 covering his clothing. These had probably hatched from the marshy bor- 

 der of an adjoining lake, on this and the preceding days, the weather 

 having been remarkably warm and dr3^ The wings appear to be more 

 hyaline and iridescent in those individuals that come forth earliest, but I 

 am unable to detect any marks by which they may be characterized as 

 specifically distinct from those which appear at a later day. 



7. Trichocera BRUMALIS. T/ie Mid-winter Trichocera. 



Brownish-black ; wings and legs pallid at their bases ; poisers blackish, 

 their pedicels whitish. 



Length of the male 0.18, of the female 0.25, the wings expanding twice 

 these measurements. 



Thorax with an obscure grayish reflection. Abdomen in the males cylin- 

 drical, slightly narrower toward the tip, in the females elongated-oval 

 and pointed at the tip ; each segment with a strongly impressed transverse 

 line in its middle, and the posterior margin elevated into a slight ridge. 

 Ovipositor fulvous, sometimes tinged with blackish. Wings hyaline, 

 faintly tinged with dusky ; inner margins ciliated with quite short hairs; 

 nervures blackish. Zdg^^ very long, slender, and fragile, blackish; femurs 

 brown, gradually paler toward their bases. 



Common in forests in the winter season, coming out in warm days, flying 

 in the sunshine, and alighting upon the snow, its wings reposing horizon- 

 tally upon its back when at rest. Even when the temperature is below 

 the freezing point, and the cold so severe as to confine every other insect 

 within its coverts, this may be met with abroad upon the wing. It is a 

 plain, unadorned species, closely allied in its character and habits to the 

 European T. hyemalis, but in a number of impaled specimens before me, 

 I can detect no stripes or bands upon the thorax ; whilst the very obvious 

 character of the legs and wings being pallid at their bases, I do not find 

 mentioned as pertaining to that species. 



