FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 503 



further in considerable quantities in the food of a number of the minnow family 

 iNotropis, Piiiicphalcs, etc.) which habitually frequent the swift water of stony 

 streams. 



Prof. Forbes' studies also convinced him that nearly one-fifth of the entire 

 amount of food consumed by all the adult fishes examined by him consisted of 

 aquatic Neuropteroid larvae, the greater part of them being the young of May-flies, 

 principally of the genus Hexagcnia. These larvee were eaten especially by the 

 miller's thumb, the sheepshead, the white bass, the striped bass, the common perch, 

 13 species of darters, both of the black bass, 7 of the sunfishes, the rock bass and 

 croppies, the pirate perch, the brook silversides, the sticklebacks, the mud minnow, 

 the top minnow, the gizzard shad, the toothed herring, 12 species each of the true 

 minnow family and of the suckers and buffalo fish family, 5 catfishes, the dogfish 

 and the shovel fish — 70 species out of the 87 he studied. 



Among these he found that Neuropteroid larvae were the most important food 

 of the white bass, the toothed herring and the shovel fish (51 per cent) and the crop- 

 pies ; while they made a fourth or more of the alimentary contents of the sheeps- 

 head (46 per cent), the darters, the pirate perch, the common sunfishes {Lcpomis and 

 Chcenobryttiis), the rock bass, the little pickerel and the common sucker (36 per cent). 

 The important food relations of May-fly larvae is noted in detail in a following 

 paragraph and will not be treated of in this connection. 



The following biological and other records as well as the illustrations of the 

 forms mentioned are taken largely from a partial report on the work done at the 

 Entomologic Field Station, Saranac Inn, Franklin county, in i goo, by Dr. James G. 

 Needham of Lake Forest University, Illinois, and his assistant at that time, 

 Cornelius Betten. This work has been published with many additional details in 

 Bulletin 47, New York State Museum, to which the interested reader is referred for 

 further information. This publication also contains a number of valuable tables for 

 the identification of both adults and young of aquatic insects. 



3tone Flies. 



{Flccoptera) 



The stone flies are inhabitants of rapid streams and their nymphs may be found 

 in such localities clinging to the under side of stones. It is only necessary to lift 

 a stone or a stick from the water and turn it over quickly in order to find these 

 interesting forms. They cling close to such objects with their legs stretched to full 

 extent and their claws gripping firmly. They are said to be a favorite food of brook 



