THE CRANE-Furs or New York — Part II 785 
the creature can fly only very slowly and here was moving several times faster (I could not 
see whether it was using its wings), it was obviously drifting in the wind. Perhaps this is a 
ora function of the expanded metatarsi. 
The larvae are usually abundant in decaying vegetable matter in rich 
organic mud about ponds and in swamps. The writer has found them 
especially numerous in the Basin Swamp at Orono, Maine (in 1913), 
and near Round Pond at McLean, New York. At Orono they were 
associated with larvae and pupae of Ptychoptera rufocincta, Limnophila 
macrocera, Pilaria tenuipes, P. recondita, Erioptera chlorophylla, a variety 
of chironomid larvae, numerous larvae of Trichoptera in their cases, 
nematodes, and leeches.. Needham and Betten (1901:574-575) give a 
summary of the larval habitat of this species as they found it in the 
northern Adirondacks. Weston and Turner: (1917:53) have recorded 
the larvae as being scavengers and thus serving as important factors 
in the elimination of sewage in the Coweeset Stream near Brockton, 
Massachusetts. 
The immature stages of this interesting crane-fly have been well con- 
sidered by Hart (1898 [1895]:189-195), whose account has been briefly 
summarized by Howard (1912:95-96). The larvae are found in shallow 
water that is filled with decaying vegetable matter. Here they live in 
the mat of dead stems of rushes, grasses, and willow leaves, in semi- 
stagnant or slowly flowing water. The larvae are elongate-cylindrical, 
with a long, partly retractile breathing tube. They are deep rusty red 
or brown in color, quite distinct from the pale whitish larvae of Ptychoptera 
or the black larvae of Bittacomorphella. They feed on decaying vegetable 
atter, diatoms, and mud that is filled with organic matter. They rest 
eneath the surface of the water, with the tip of the extended breathing 
ube at the surface film or just beneath the surface, in the latter case 
reathing by means of the small tracheal gills. When about to pupate, 
he very long, coiled breathing tube of the pupa is wound around the 
horax beneath the larval skin. On pupation the tube soon straightens 
ut into a very long, stiff, bristle-like structure. Like the larvae, the 
upae rest beneath the surface of the water, with the tip of the breathing 
ube projecting above the surface film. The pupal duration is apparently 
bout a week. 
Larva.— Length when fully extended, about 60 mm. 
Length of breathing tube, about 20 mm. 
Diameter of body, about 2.6 to 3 mm. 
4 
