AQUATIC INSEOTS IN NEW YORK STATE 243 



1893-95 Argi a violacea Calvert, N. Y. Ent. Soc. Jour. 3:43 and 

 5:92 (listed from Keeseville, Dobbs Ferry, Itliaca 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 Needbam, N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 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 6min; 

 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. 



1 Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist. Jour. 17:203 



