172 Forty- fifth Report on tee State Museum. 



partiality to out-houses; it is consequently frequently met with by 

 incipients during the winter months, and may be found on the wing at 

 the end of April and in May." 



The moth was of common occurrence " at sugar " in collections 

 made by me at Schenectady, N. Y., in the year 1875, having been 

 taken July 8 (sugaring commenced July 7), 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 

 24, 30. The following year it was taken or noted, also " at sugar," on 

 May 20 (not on sixteen succeeding nights of sugaring), June 26, 27, 

 28, 29, July 1, 3, 7, 8 (being each night of sugaring), 15 (absent on ten 

 nights following), August 9, 10, 14, 19 (not seen on September 4 and 

 6, when the collections were discontinued). It was the most numerous 

 during the last of June. These observations indicate two broods a 

 year —in June and August. According to Guenee, Noct. ii, page 

 405, it has, so to speak, no fixed time for its appearance from the pupa. 

 Rofiast, in his Catalogue des Chenilles Earopeennes, gives as the 

 food-plants of the caterpillar, willow and poplar, in summer and 

 autumn. With us it has only been recorded on the willow. 



Exechia species ? 

 A Fungus Gnat. 



A number of specimens of this fly were brought to me by Mr. A. L. 

 Train, as having occurred in such abundance in his room, in Albany, 

 as to excite his curiosity as to their source and purpose. 



Being unknown to me, they were submitted to Mr. F. Kowarz, the 

 distinguished Dipterologist of Franzensbad, Bohemia, for name and 

 habits, if known, who very obligingly returned the following informa- 

 tion in regard to the insect: 



It belongs to the genus Exechia Winnertz, of the family of 

 Mycetophilidm. Baron Osten Sacken does not mention this genus in 

 his Catalogue of North American Diptera, 1878. The various species 

 of Exechia live, like their kindred, almost all in mushrooms, which are 

 fully destroyed by the larvae of Mycetophilidai. To speak of their 

 utility or destructiveness in an agricultural sense depends altogether 

 on the value of the mushrooms for the farmer. With us the opinion 

 regarding mushrooms is divided. 



Mr. F. V. Theobald, in his volume just published — An Account of 

 British Flies — states that the Exechia larva? live in fungi. E. fun- 

 gorum and E. lateralis are common British species, while eight other 

 species occur in England. These fungus gnats often appear in great 

 numbers on windows in houses, especially in the autumn. 



