THE CRANE-FLIES OF NEW YORK PART II 729 



375-377 of reference); Mydaea pertusa Meig., possibly feeding on larvae 

 of Tipulidae (page 393-396 of reference). 



A species of Phaonia with presumably parasitic habits is discussed on 

 page 732 of this memoir. 



Coleoptera : The adults and the larvae of the following species of ground 

 beetles (Carabidae) have been recorded as important enemies of crane- 

 flies (Hyslop, 1910) : Poedlus lucublandus Say; Micromaseus femoralis 

 (Kirby); Platynus sp.; Harpalus pennsylvanicus Dej.; H. caliginosus Fabr. 

 Most of these were recorded by Webster (1893 a: 241) as feeding on the 

 injurious crane-fly Tipula bicornis. 



The larvae of Elateridae (wireworms) are enemies of crane-flies. The 

 writer has seen several feeding on large larvae of Tipula trivittata. 



Hymenoptera: Ants (Formicidae) undoubtedly capture and devour 

 many crane-flies, these generally being pupae or teneral adults. Hyslop 

 (1910) cites the record of an Aphaenogaster fulva Roger which was observed 

 dragging a living adult tipulid over the ground. Chapman (1918:191) 

 records feeding species of Myrmica on adult Tipulidae which were readily 

 eaten by the ants in preference to most other insect food. On August 2, 

 1917, at Lamed, Pawnee County, Kansas, along the bank of the Arkansas 

 River, the writer noted a small ant which was dragging a still living 

 pupa of Gonomyia kansensis from its burrow in the sand at the bank of 

 the river. The ant had the pupa about the head and carried it off despite 

 its struggles. Both the Gonomyia and the formicid were common and 

 the tragedy as described was not 'accidental. 



The Pemphredonidae (Mimesinae) and the Crabronidae, fossorial wasps 

 in the Hawaiian Islands, bear an important relationship to the smaller 

 Tipulidae dwelling in the same haunts. Writing of the Mimesinae, a 

 subfamily of the Pemphredonidae, Perkins (1913:lxxxv) says: 



All the Hawaiian species of both genera are true forest insects and most of them may be 

 seen in large numbers, where they occur, flying around ferns and bushes in sunny places. 

 The males are often much more numerous apparently than the females, but this is due to 

 the more retiring habits of the latter, which, when they have begun to provision their nests, 

 frequent dark, shady and damp places in search of their prey. This consists of the endemic 

 Limnobiidae or daddy longlegs, which live in such places. . . . Although I have often 

 watched females of these wasps returning with prey to their burrows, it was always Tipulidae 

 that they carried to the nest. Their burrows are usually made in the ground and are often 

 drilled down from beneath a stone, this no doubt serving to keep the burrow sufficiently 

 dry. 



