82 Thirty-second Report on the State Museum. 



present knowledge, and without observing the transformations, to make a specific 

 reference to any of the larvae. A species is described by Dr. Fitch, in his 

 Winter Insects of Eastern Neio York as Chironomus nivoriimdus — the snow- 

 born midge.* It is said of it: " It is a very common species, appearing upon 

 the snow in the winter season, and upon fences, windows, etc., in the forepart 

 of spring, the males and the females being about equally numerous. The 

 beautiful plumose antennae of the former distinguish them at a glance from all 

 other insects abroad at this season. At times they may be met with in immense 

 swarms. April 27, 1846, in a forest, for the distance of a quarter of a mile, 

 they appeared in such countless myriads as to prove no small annoyance to the 

 passer, getting into his mouth, nostrils and ears at every step, and literally cov- 

 ering his clothing. These had probably hatched from the marshy border of an 

 adjoining lake." On one occasion, a species of Chironomus, believed by Walsh 

 to have been the stigmaterus of Say, appeared in such a swarm, on Long Island, 

 as to have been mistaken by the observer for smoke coming from a hay-stack 

 half a mile distant.! 



One of the two forms of the larvae above mentioned, represented in fig. 13 

 of plate 4, was so numerous in the package of Chara vulgaris — a very common 

 plant in a large pond near the hatching-house — that, on taking up little patches 

 of it from the bottom of the box in which it was packed, they would be found 

 almost covered with the larvae. They evidently had a fondness for the fishes 

 which had died in the Chara while in transit, for from the body of a small 

 Coitus twenty individuals were removed, and nearly as many from a quite small 

 Gasterosteus. The abundance of this form, associated with a plant simply 

 taken from the water for the purpose of packing, would indicate an exceedingly 

 prolific species, and also the possibility that it might be the form which origi- 

 nates the "immense swarms" of Chironomus nivoriundus, like that observed 

 by Dr. Fitch. 



The other species of larva, much less abundant, was more elongate, with 

 longer joints proportionately, and of a blood-red color. It is also, by writers, 

 referred to the genus Chironomus. 



The fly caj)tured upon the wing (before mentioned) has been referred by Mr. 

 Burgess, of 'the Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., who is paying special study to our 

 Diptera, to the family of Ephydrinidce, and probably to the genus of Scattella ; 

 but, in the absence of its antennae, it cannot be positively placed. Most of the 

 larvae of this family are aquatic, and many of them possess particular interest, 

 from their occurrence in the graduating houses of salt-works, and very numer- 

 ously in some of the western salt lakes. 



The tribe of Ephydrina, to which Scatella belongs, have, as a prominent 

 characteristic feature, naked eyes. On submitting the above example to a high 

 magnifying power, traces of hairs are discoverable, from which it is almost 

 evident that the hairy clothing of the eyes has been removed through the 

 extremely rough handling which I had unfortunately given the insect. If this 

 should prove correct, then it is not improbable that the species should be 

 referred to the closely allied Hydrellina, and perhaps to the genus Hydrillia, 

 near to H. hypoleuea. Loew.t In that species, the first joint of the hind tarsi 

 is red ; in the Caledonia example, black. 



HEMIPTERA. 



Examples of Gerris remiges Say — shown in fig. 10, plate 4, were found 

 abundantly, skipping over the surface of some quiet water. These insects, 



* American Journal of Agriculture and Science. Vol. v, p. 282. 1846. 



tThe Practical Entomologist. Vol. ii, p. 10. 1866-67. 



$ Monographs of the Diptera of North America, hy H. Loew. Part I, p. 151. 1862. 



