a 
THE BIOLOGY OF EPHYDRA SUBOPACA LOEW 
Cui Pine 
The observations and experiments herein described were begun in the 
summer of 1916 and covered a period of two years. The main purpose of 
the study was to investigate the habits, activities, and relations to environ- 
ment of Hphydra subopaca throughout all the stages in its life history, and 
to solve the problem of its unique habits and adaptations. During the 
period, daily field data were taken at the salt pools beside the east bank 
of Cayuga Lake, and various other salt-water areas in the vicinity of 
Ithaca, New York, were occasionally visited. 
HISTORY OF THE SPECIES 
The adult of this species was first described by Loew (1864) from Con- 
necticut. Following this, Packard (1868) described both the puparium 
and the adult as Hphydra halophila (a preoccupied name), from brine pools 
in Illinois. The occurrence of this species at Charlotte Harbor, Florida, 
was recorded by Johnson (1895), and at several localities in New Jersey 
by Smith (1890). Johnson (1904) also records this species at Atlantic 
City and Seaside Park, New Jersey. All the works mentioned above are 
mere descriptions or records of occurrence, but none has anything bearing 
on habits, development, or life history. The most recent and detailed 
work on the biology of Ephydra subopaca is by Aldrich, in whose article 
on some western species (19124) are discussed the habits, food, and some 
interesting features of both the adult and the immature stages. How- 
ever, the egg was not described, oviposition and mating had not been 
observed, and the life history was hitherto incomplete. Neither had 
ecological phenomena been investigated in detail. 
DISTRIBUTION AND RANGE IN ITHACA AND VICINITY 
Only two species of Ephydra, as far as records show, are found in New 
York State. The species Hphydra subopaca is found in Ithaca and in 
AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to Professors 
E. M. Chamot, J. R. Schramm, W. A. Riley, and H. O. Buckman, Doctors L. A. Hausman, 
Alexander, and F. R. Georgia, and Messrs. C. R. Yih and K. Y. Wong, for~assistance in their respective 
Fields; audite Professors J.G. Needham and O. A. Johannsen for advice and guidance during the progress 
of the work. : 
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