REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I907 203 



that the key and the figures will facilitate the collection and identi- 

 fication of much new material in this neglected group. 



I have found the material accumulated in the course of the 

 station work of the past two seasons sufficient in amount and 

 variety, and in the range of forms brought together to serve 

 for the basis of a study I have long wished to make of the 

 venation of the crane flies. These are generally recognized 

 as being among the most primitive of the Diptera, and among 

 the more generalized of the families that seemed likely, on 

 account of the great number of their members and conse- 

 quent variety of interrelated forms, to ofl:'er materials for the 

 solution of some pressing problems in taxonomy. That among 

 the Tipulidae might be found the key to the solution of some 

 of the remaining problems of venation has seemed altogether 

 probable. 



Preliminary list of New York crane flies 



The following list is based on the collections accumulated 

 during the course of the summers of 1905 and 1907 (mainly by 

 trap lantern), the published records (chiefly taken from 

 Aldrich's Catalogue of North America Diptera) and data avail- 

 able in the Cornell University collection. For the conven- 

 ience of the user, I follow the order of arrangement of the 

 above mentioned catalogue, although, as stated elsewhere I 

 believe the natural order of arrangement of the group is therein 

 frequently inverted. 



1 G e r a n o m y i a canadensis Westw. A few speci- 

 mens were taken in trap lanterns at Old Forge during August. 

 Specimens from Manlius, N. Y. August 20, and from Ithaca 

 (July 14-16) are in the Cornell University collection. This 

 species hovers about wet timbers on the edge of streams or 

 on wave beaten shores. 



2 Rhipidia fidelis O. S. This species was described 

 by Osten Sacken from specimens obtained from Sharon 

 Springs, N. Y. I have not seen it. 



3 Rhipidia maculata Meigen. This pretty species 

 I encountered at Old Forge in two very different situations. 

 A little company of males I observed hovering about the 

 trunk of a tall beech tree in the yard of the cottage in which 

 I lived (Camp Sakheywey). The trunk was partially moss 

 covered, and stood on the edge of the forest, and just before 



