1940] 
Mating Habits of Borens brumalis 
127 
The subgenital valves of the female are unique among the 
Mecoptera, and are borne on the eighth sternite like those 
of female Tipulidse, although the female Diptera have sternal 
structures of the ninth sternite not present in the females of 
Borens. It is possible that the valves of the eighth sternite 
of Borens may represent the ventral valves of the ovipositor 
of female Orthoptera, but the exact homologies of these parts 
in female Diptera, Borens, etc., have not been definitely de- 
termined. 
Fig. 1. Mating Position of Boreus 'brumalis. 
Since female Tipulidse use the slender flanged rigid cerci, 
which are shaped exactly like those of Borens, to form the 
dorso-terminal portions of the egg-laying apparatus, it is 
probable that a female Boreus uses her terminalia in a simi- 
lar manner to deposit her eggs in moss. 
The terminal segments of the genital forceps of the male 
of Borens, etc., represent the parameres of male Hymenop- 
tera, etc., while the basal sclerites represent the parameral 
plates, as was pointed out by the writer in several publica- 
tions. Recent morphologists, however, do not accept this 
interpretation, and homologize the segments of the foreipate 
genitalia of male Mecoptera, Diptera, Trichoptera, etc., with 
