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“Head with forked process in front. 
Fore legs of: re) longer and stronger than hind legs; femur 
nearly 24 mm., ‘tibia | 24 mm. fully. 
Intermediate tarsus about as long as the tibia. 
Hinder tarsi 5-jointed, 2-clawed, ‘claws unequal. 
All as in Plethogenesia. 
Ulmer refers to a difference in the tenth sternite in Anage- 
nesia compared with that in Plethogenesia, bnt I am unable to 
_. follow his meaning in this connection. 
With regard to the habits of this insect, Evans notes: 
** Appeared on the Tigris in several spots in and about Amara 
on April 4th, 1918. They have not been noticed since. They 
did not fly in the air, but behaved like hydroplanes, circling and 
and skimming over the surface of the water, the long ‘ tails”’ 
dragging on the surface, the body slightly raised and the wings 
beating rapidly.” Buxton writes: ‘‘ Amara, April 5th, 1918. 
Large mayflies floating down stream in huge shoals for some 
- days past; never seem to fly, though 3 g (?) observed chasing 
2 2 (?) along the surface of the water, with much beating of 
inadequate wings.” ‘‘ After that I never saw them fly, and 
they got more and more battered by the ripple on the surface 
of the water. Finished altogether in about a week from their 
first appearance.” 
- Haton (‘‘ Rey. Mon. of Recent Ephemeride,” ‘Trans. Linn. 
Soc. Lond.,’ 2nd ser., vol. iii, p. 10) says: ‘‘The male of Palin-. 
genia has very short fore legs; and he is mated, not in mid-air, 
but upon the river amidst crowds of rivals, who pile themselves 
up upon him and his surroundings until he is overwhelmed by a 
large struggling mass of them floating down the stream like a 
heap of foam, whose resting place (Gn New Guinea at least) is 
generally found in the mouth of a big fish.”” Observations on the 
Mesopotamian species are not as complete as could be wished, 
but as far as they go, considering the bulky form of the insect, 
they point to the improbability of its being capable of aérial 
movements such as are recorded of P. papuana. 
A reference to the appearance of these countless throngs of 
Palingenia and to their evanescent character in other countries 
may not be out of place. Eaton (op. cit., p. 28) gives a sum- 
mary of a passage from Signor d’Albertis’ travels regarding the 
swarming of P. papuana on Fly River, New Guinea: ‘On July 
2nd, 1876,-a few hours before sunset, we witnessed a strange 
and magnificent sight produced by an abundance of a species of 
mayfly actively pursued by the following birds: Calornis metallica, 
Artamus cucopygialis, a Graculus, a Hurystomus, and the com-. 
monest white-headed osprey, Haliastur girrenera. Simulta- 
neously the insects were being preyed upon by thousands of 
fishes, who rushed up to seize them whenever they touched the 
water with their delicate wings. But so profuse was the abun- 
