AQUATIC INSECTS IN NEW YORK STATE 243 
1893-95 Argia violacea _ Calvert, N. Y. Ent. Soc. Jour. 3:43 and 
5:92 (listed from Keeseville, Dobbs Ferry, Ithaca and Buffalo) 
1899 Argia violacea Kellicott, Odon. Ohio, p.25 (description) 
1900 Argia violacea Williamson, Dragon Flies Ind. p.262 (de- 
_ Scription) 
1901 Argia violacea Needham, N. Y. State Mus. Bul. 47, p.402, 
405, 407 (occurrence at Saranac Inn) 
This species is one of the most generally distributed in the 
northeastern United States. In habitat it approaches species 
of Lestes and Enallagma, dwelling by ditches and slow streams, 
and in the bays of larger bodies of standing water. The beau- 
tiful violaceous color of the adult males-in life is fairly dis- 
tinctive of the species, and has suggested the specific name. 
This species like the preceding oviposits commonly in mats 
of algae lying at the edge of the water, or covering floating 
vegetation. On such mats I have frequently seen many 
females at work side by side, each with a male clasping her 
prothorax with his forceps, his body sticking up straight in air, 
his legs and wings placidly folded. This curious position, 
Standing, as it were, on the tip of the abdomen, is assumed, 
I think, not so much on account of the male trying to avoid 
the water,.as Kellicott has suggested,! as on account of the 
greater ease of maintaining this position. The inferior append- 
ages of the male are so much longer than the superiors that 
were the male to remain with his feet on the ground, when 
the female depresses her abdomen in ovipositing, the flexion 
of his body would be extreme, and perhaps uncomfortable. At 
any rate, he takes the elevated position very philosophically, 
folds his legs and waits till his spouse gets ready to let him 
down; and, when she wants to move from place to-place, he 
uses his wings to help her. 
Nymph. Length 10mm, gills 4mm additional, abdomen 6mm; 
width of head 3mm. Antennae six jointed. Median lobe of 
labium less prominent than in the other species. Lateral setae 
three. Wings reaching well on the sixth abdominal segment. 
Gills ovate broadly, obtuse, with the margins hardly parallel 
anywhere, an obscure transverse paler streak at three fourths 
their length. 
1Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist. Jour. 17:2038 
