May-Flies of Fall Creek

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Abstract
The following paper is a preliminary study of the ecology of the May-flies in the streams about Ithaca, N. Y., more especially in Fall Creek. In these, as in most fresh water streams, the nymphs of this order are abundant. In Fall Creek they are the dominant insects of the stream during the months of April, May and June, and by their fine adaptations to diverse environments they offer a satisfying :field of study to any brook traveler. The nymphs may be easily secured, but only imagoes exist in most collections, and these usually as dried distorted specimens whose life-histories are little known. The winged or aerial life lasts but a few days at most; the nymphal or aquatic life may extend over two or three years. The imago exhibits great specialization of parts concerned with reproduction and more striking atrophy of other parts than may be seen any where else among insects. Imagoes of all the groups are remarkably alike in superficial appearance. The nymphs, on the other hand, display a series of adaptations as diverse as their environments. Only by rearing specimens from nymphal to adult life may these two stages be linked together. Many of the life-histories of those species found in Eastern North America have been made known. It has been with the hope of adding to the number of these life-histories, as well as with the purpose of gaining more knowledge of the habits of those already known, that this study has been begun. The earlier American workers, Say, Hagen and Walsh* scarcely took up the rearing of nymphs but by their descriptive work they laid the foundation for the life-history studies which have followed. Berryt ’03 reared and described the nymphs of Habrophlebia americana Banks, (which nymph is not a Habrophlebia but a typical Leptophlebia), Blasturus cupidus Say, and Callibaetis ferruginea Walsh. A note on the nymphs of the genus Tricorythus was published by Cockerell and Gill ’06. The largest number of life-histories of Eastern North American forms has been written by Professor James G. Needham in Bulletins 47, 68, and 86 of the New York State Museum, and includes the following species: * Walsh, B. D. On the pupa of the Ephemerinous genus Baetisca Walsh Proceed. of the Ent. Soc. of Philadelphia. 1864. pp. 200-206. * Walsh, D. B. List of the Pseudoneuroptera of Illinois. Proceedings of the Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 1862.

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