712 CHARLES Paut ALEXANDER 
feet in shady spots, and has been aptly termed by Johnson (1907-12. 
[1909]: 123) “ the king of the dancing tipulids.”’ Doubtless many interest- 
ing facts remain to be discovered concerning the dances of the tropical” 
species of Brachypremna, Tanypremna, and Megistoecera. 
Dancing.— The dances of Thrypticomyia saltens (Dol.) should be — 
mentioned at this pomt. According to Doleschall (1857), Jacobson — 
(De Meijere, 1911:22—23), and others, this species is common in Java — 
in shady places thruout the year. The insects have the habit of clinging 
to spider webs by means of the fore feet, or, if a fore foot is lacking, one 
of the middle legs is used. Often twenty or more of these flies are seen 
hanging close beside one another on a horizontally spun web, all seesawing ' 
rapidly up and down and at the same time swaying to and fro, sometimes 
rhythmically, sometimes not. This ludicrous tight-rope dance is con- 
tinued for a long time. Somewhat similar habits have been described 
ei gape. 
for Trentepohlia pennipes, Rhamphidia venustissima Alex.,and other species — 
with white tarsi. 
Bobbing.— Species of Dicranomyia and Geranomyia, as well as a few 
other crane-flies, have the curious habit of bobbing up and down while 
resting, the long, slender legs acting as springs. The species of the latter 
genus practice this same oscillating movement while resting on a head — 
of flowers and feeding. H. K. Munro has recorded this bobbing habit 
in a species of Trentepohlia (p. 943). 
Resting habits— When at rest crane-flies assume various positions 
which are often fairly characteristic. Many species (Erioptera, Molo- 
philus, and some Dicranomyia) resemble spiders when flattened against 
a tree trunk or some other vertical support. Styringomyia resembles 
a bit of cobweb, the fore and middle legs stretched out in front, the hind 
legs directed backward. In a position of rest the tipuline forms generally — 
hold their wings outspread or divaricate, exceptions being in the genera 
Longurio, Oropeza, and others, and in a few species of Tipula, as 7’. arctica 
and the woodland-inhabiting species of the marmorata group (T. fragilis 
and 7’. ignobilis). The limnobiine forms usually fold the wings incumbent — 
over the abdomen, but here again exceptions are found in Pedicia, 
Limnophila toxoneura, and other species, which normally rest with the 
wings outspread. Oropeza hangs to the roofs of bridges, culverts, and 
similar places, with only the fore legs attached to the support, the middle | 
legs divergent, the posterior legs hanging loosely behind. The apparently 
