268 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [Oct., '03 



a dozen in all, and every one was a male. I amused myself 

 by fancying that the wives were hiding in the bushes near the 

 stream and looking on contemptuously at the antics of their 

 giddy spouses. '' How silly ! " I seemed to hear them whis- 

 per in dipterous tones, " you'd know they were males." 



The next day, a little before sundown I went up upon our 

 cottage piazza. Its floor had been lately painted, and shone 

 and glistened as the western sun touched it. It was not very 

 unlike a pool of water with the sunshine upon it, and so 

 thought certain insects evidently. For here was a swam of 

 flies going through just such a light and fantastic dance as I 

 had witnessed the day before by the brookside. They flew 

 swiftl}^ back and forth, darting by and on one another, quite 

 near the shining surface, and at brief intervals dipped and 

 touched it. I ran for my net and caught one of the dancers ; 

 it was a female. I took ten in succession ; all were females, 

 And again it diverted me to imagine the curious wives saying 

 to one another after their husbands. Soiree da^isayite. '*0f 

 course it was ridiculous, but let's try it, just for fun." The 

 fly proved to be Hilara tristis, the specific adjective given, I 

 suppose, because of the melancholy black in which the insect 

 is clothed and not in ironical allusion to its giddy frolics. Mr. 

 Melander speaks of Hilara trivittata as having similar habits, 

 though in this species, males and females dance in company, 

 but *' the males are much more numerous." He adds, " some 

 of the European species form balloons of spun web somewhat 

 similar to those made by the North American Empis cerobatica 

 during courtship as described by Aldrich and Turley (Am. 

 Nat., Oct., 1899.") I will not spoil the interesting article 

 alluded to by quoting parts of it. We have all seen airy 

 castles built " during courtship," scarcely more substantial and 

 lasting than these flimsy balloons. As in the Dolichopidse 

 and in Platypeza the legs of Empids are often appendaged or 

 decorated variously. Sometimes they are thickly fringed with 

 scalelike hairs, often parts of them are much enlarged or 

 dilated, often sharply spined. These adornments are supposed 

 to be for the purpose of attracting the attention and admira- 

 tion of the opposite sex. You know how natural it is for one 

 to ** put one's best foot forward " in courting time. 



