826 CHAELES PAUL ALEXANDER 



acter, the pectinate antennae of the male, and several of the species 

 run inconveniently close to Dicranomyia. 



The immature stages are spent beneath the bark of decaying trees or 

 in decaying vegetable or animal matter. In Europe the genotype, 

 Rhipidia maculata Meig., has been recorded as living in old cow-manure. 

 Beling found the insects in such a situation, associated with the larvae 

 of Rhyphus pundatus (Fabr.) (Beling, 1879:52-53) and a staphylinid 

 beetle, Platystethus morsitans Payk. (Beling, 1873 b: 592). R. uniseriata 

 Schin. was found by Beling (1879:53-54) living in decaying beech wood, 

 in company with larvae of Xylota lenta Meig. and X. segnis (Linn.) (Syr- 

 phidae) as well as with larvae of a tipuline crane-fly, Ctenophora. The 

 larvae of this species, like those of R. maculata, live in thin silken cases, 

 open at both ends and covered with particles of wood and other debris. 



In America, besides Rhipidia bryanti (which is discussed in some detail) 

 the following records of the immature stages are available: Rhipidia 

 maculata, recorded in Europe as living in decaying organic matter, was 

 found by Needham (1908 a: 170, 204) in tent traps set over the bed of 

 Beaver Meadow Brook in the Adirondacks, the insects presumably hav- 

 ing emerged from the stream bed or from the thin layers of moss covering 

 the exposed stones. R.fidelis O. S. was reared from larvae in decaying wood 

 near Ithaca, New York, by Carl Ilg. This species belongs to the same 

 subgenus (Monorhipidia Alex.) as the European R. uniseriata, which has 

 similar larval habits. R. domestica 0. S. has been bred from larvae 

 obtained in fermented sap of the sour gum (Nyssa sylvatica Marsh., 

 Cornaceae) at Clementon, New Jersey (Johnson, 1910:704). Males and 

 females of this species were bred by Popenoe at Washington, D. C., 

 from larvae on more or less decaying roots of taro (Colocasia antiquorum 

 Schott, Araceae) taken at Gough, South Carolina, on February 1, 1911. 

 Specimens of R. domestica emerged on August 21, 1906, at Juneau, 

 Alaska, in radishes infested with H-ylemyia brassicae (Bouche) . 



Rhipidia (Rhipidia) bryanti Johns. 



1909 Rhipidia bryanti Johns. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 34, p. 123-124, pi. 16, 

 fig. 20. 



Rhipidia bryanti is one of the largest and handsomest species of the 

 genus, and is widely distributed thruout the eastern United States from 

 Maine to Texas. The immature stages are spent beneath the decaying 



