Jan., '07] ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 1 5 



Notes on the Subapterous Female of Tipula simplex 



Doane. 



R. W. Doane, Stanford University. 

 Early in March, 1006, while collecting in a meadow near 

 Stanford University, I found thousands of Tipulids half flying, 

 half running over the grass. Many were collected, and all 

 proved to be male specimens of Tipula simplex Doane. 

 Although it is not uncommon to find the males of several 

 species of Tipula issuing somewhat earlier than the females, 

 the very great abundance and the peculiar actions of this 

 species, running frantically over the grass, rarely flying and 

 then not rising more than a few inches, caused me to make 



Rudimentary wing of female Tipula simplex Doane. 



a particularly close search for the females, but none were found 

 at the time. Two days later, in another place where the males 

 were again abundant, a few females were found crawling 

 slowly over the ground in the thick grass, sometimes crawling 

 up on the grass. They were, as the action of the males had 

 led me to expect, unable to fly. The wings were short and 

 rudimentary, being about as long as the halteres, distorted in 

 shape, entirely veinless and with rows of rather long, stiff 

 hairs along the costal margin in the anterior distal portion. 

 The accompanying figure will give some idea of the shape of 

 the wings and the arrangement of the hairs. In other respects 

 the female is similar to the male, except that the legs are 

 much shorter and stouter. The ovipositor is reddish-brown, 

 the upper valves rather wide at the base, tapering to a sharp 

 point and curving slightly outward at the tip. The lower 



