1931 ] 
The Biology of the Mecoptera 
47 
with particles of food, as a part of courtship, as in the 
Empidse? but he does not imply that he has actually seen 
this done, and he gives no reference to a published account. 
Miyake has noted that the males retain the body of a 
victim for some time after they have finished with it, pos- 
sibly as a lure to the females, who “come and try to 
take away the bait,” whereupon the males attempt to mate 
with them. Such behavior, unless carefully observed, 
might easily be misinterpreted and be the basis of Mer- 
cier’s remark. During copulation the specimens of Bittacus 
hang suspended from the branches or leaves, facing each 
other ventrally. 
The snow scorpion-flies of the family Boreidse have no 
mating habits like those of Panorpa, although the act of 
mating itself is a very curious process, and demonstrates 
the function of the bristle-like wings of the males, as shown 
by Withycombe. When a male becomes enamoured of an 
attractive member of the opposite sex, he runs along at 
her side for a short distance; then, by a series of sudden 
movements he grasps her near the base of her abdomen 
with his hooked wings and pulls her upon his back. Next 
he pushes her around into a more comfortable position, 
until he is able to seize her abdomen with his forceps and 
bring about copulation. Then he releases the hold with 
his wings and “wanders about on the surface of the ground 
with the female seated on his back and apparently help- 
less.” This manoeuver has been observed by Cockle (1908) 
in Boreus calif ornicus, and by Withycombe (1926) in B. 
hyemalis. 
The feeding habits of the adult scorpion-flies have been 
the cause of considerable discussion and the object of sev- 
eral investigations. The earlier writers thought that the 
Panorpidse were exclusively predacious, and this view has 
persisted until within very recent years. Lyonnet started 
the notion in 1742, in Lesser’s “Theology des Insectes ou 
Demonstration des Perfections de Dieu,” where he states 
that he saw a fly of the size and appearance of a scorpion- 
fly attack a damsel-fly ten times its own size, and bring it 
