1931 ] 
The Biology of the Mecoptera 
53 
according to Felt, some of the larvae are predacious, the 
larger ones sometimes attacking and devouring the smaller. 
Usually the larva forms a short burrow in the soil, but 
it may leave the burrow entirely and feed above the ground. 
The last instar of the larva is much longer than the others, 
usually lasting about a month, and this appears to be the 
hibernating stage. The pupa is formed in a cell con- 
structed in the soil by the last instar larva. It is charac- 
teristic of the libera type, as found by Maquart, the appen- 
dages being free, though immobile. The antennae and legs 
are like those of the adult, but the mouth is not prolonged 
into the beak and there is no genital bulb in the male. In 
about a week or ten days the pupal case ruptures in the 
usual fashion and the adult makes its appearance. No 
observations seem to have been made on the condition of 
the adult as it emerges, or on the amount of time which 
elapses before it is able to fly. The adult Panorpas usually 
prefer dark and rather moist woods, or sometimes more 
open areas which are low and near water. In New England 
I have found them most abundant in woodlands containing 
Myrica asplenifolia and associated plants. In the more 
central and southern states they frequently inhabit open 
fields; and in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee I have 
found a new species to be most abundant on the very edges 
of a rapid stream, and even resting on the bare rocks in 
the middle of a large creek. 
Much less is known of the life-history of Bittacus than 
of Panorpa. No one has secured the larva or pupa of an 
American species, and Brauer alone has succeeded in rear- 
ing a species through all stages of development. He found 
that the eggs are laid in small clusters within the soil dur- 
ing the fall and remain over the winter in that conditon; 
but both Felt and Miyake observed the females drop their 
eggs singly at random while flying over the soil. According 
to Brauer, if the soil in the egg chamber dries up in the late 
fall, the eggs hatch the following April ; but if the soil stays 
moist, the eggs remain over until the spring of the second 
year following. The larvae live above ground, among leaves 
and grass, not in the soil like those of Panorpa. Brauer fed 
