5l8 REPORT OF THE 



The aquatic members of this family comprise the alder or orl fiies, fish flies, the- 

 dobson and the smaller forms to which Dr. Needham has given the common name 

 of Spongilla or Sponge flies. 



The family Sialidce includes some of the more common aquatic species, such as 

 the fish flies, and in particular the dobson, an insect whose larva is highly valued by , 

 fishermen as bait. Few insects of such inconspicuous coloration and secretive habits 

 are so well known as these. The adults do not ordinarily wander far fromi their 

 native streams or ponds, and they are generally found sitting closely on some sup- 

 port with wings folded like a roof over the back. 



Sialis infuinata Newm. This species is known as the smoky orl fly, and several 

 adults were taken on both Little and Big Clear Creeks during the latter half of 

 June. Larvae were obtained in small numbers from Little Clear Creek on the hatch- 

 ery grounds. They live in the borders of streams and ponds in trashy places filled 

 with aquatic plants and clamber through the falling vegetation with great agility. 



Transformation from the larvae to the adult takes place in moist soil at some 

 little distance from the edge of the water. An oval cell is formed in the soil from 

 several inches to a foot or more beneath the surface, in which the larva curls itself 

 up, and without making a cocoon becomes a pupa, the adult emerging two or three 

 weeks later. 



The genus Cliauliodes includes eight North American species, but two of which 

 had previously been recorded from this State. These and another were found by 

 Dr. Needham at Saranac Inn. The adults are less retiring than those in other 

 genera of the family, and some species at least are habitually abroad during the 

 hours of sunshine, making short fluttering flights from stem to stem. The eggs 

 are placed in somewhat regular rows on the surface of a leaf or other support, 

 sometimes over the water, but oftener at a short distance from it. The larvae live 

 in wet places at the edge of the water or in the water close to the surface, and 

 .are perhaps oftenest found clinging to the under side of floating logs or crawling 

 beneath loosened bark. The full-grown larva excavates a cell in a layer of moss or 

 in rotten wood, just above the level of the water, in which it transforms to the adult 

 without spinning a cocoon. 



Cliauliodes rastricoi'iiis Ramb. The adult of this species was not observed out- 

 side of the breeding cages, though larvae and pupje were obtained in several places 

 about the shore of Little Clear Pond. The latter were so abundant that in one 

 small bay 25 pupae were obtained in a very little while. Eggs, which apparently 

 belong to this species, were not uncommonly found attached to the flat surface of 

 some board several feet above the surface of the water. They were more grayish in 



