950 (CaARLES PauL ALEXANDER 
conspicuous bristles. Wing sheaths ending opposite base of third abdominal segment. 
Leg sheaths unusually long, ending opposite base of sixth abdominal segment; hind legs the 
longest, middle legs the shortest. Abdominal tergites with ten strong bristles, eight being 
arranged in a single transverse row along posterior margin; abdominal pleurites with four 
strong bristles, one on each anterior ring, two near caudal margin of- posterior ring, one 
ventrad of spiracle, the last-named rudimentary, located on segments 2 to 7; sternites unarmed 
with bristles. 
Genus Chionea Dalman (Gr. snow) 
1816 Chionea Dalm. K. Vet. Akad. Handl., vol. 1, p. 102. 
1912 Spheconophilus Beck. Ann. Soc. Ent. Belgique, vol. 56, p. 142. 
Chionea is a small genus of nearly apterous crane-flies, found thruout 
_ the North Temperate Zone. All of the known species (about eight) 
have the wings reduced to mere vestiges, this being the only genus of 
considerable size in which all the species show this condition. The South 
African genus Platylimnobia Alex., which shows a somewhat similar 
condition of wing atrophy, is probably not very closely allied to Chionea. 
The adult flies of Chionea are most often found walking awkwardly 
over the snow in the late fall or early spring or during warm days in 
winter. A few instances, however, have been recorded in which specimens 
were found with the temperature below freezing. At other seasons of 
the year they may be found among fallen leaves, under moss and stones, 
in the nests of small mammals as Arvicola (Schmitz, 1914), or in deserted 
subterranean wasps’ nests (Schmitz, 1916, and Becker, 1912). Interesting 
accounts of the habits of the adult flies of the commonest local species, 
Chionea valga Harris, are supplied by Ainslie (1906), Johnson (1907), 
Washburn (1907), and others. Lugger (1896) gives the following interest- 
ing account of the habits of the same species: 
As a general rule the wiugless flies are found only early in the morning, though in one case 
a female was discovered crawling over the snow in the evening. . . . A few winters ago 
the writer discovered a female moving slowly over the snow and by searching he soon detected 
a male. Putting both together under an inverted glass the snow-flies immediately mated, 
notwithstanding it was several degrees below the freezing point. Soon afterward the female 
found a crack in the glassy surface of the frozen snow, and fercing herself into it slowly 
disappeared from view. Penetrating for some depth into the snow she deposited a number 
of elongated eggs, which, however, did not hatch. Most females found seemed to have the 
eggs already fully matured and only lacked to be fertilized. 
Frauenfeld (Brauer, Egger, and Frauenfeld, 1854:616) believed that 
the eggs are deposited in snow, since they are often laid in January or 
February. He thought the slimy substance secreted by the small lateral 
