The Stoneflies, or Plecoptera, of Illinois

This report grows out of studies begun in the fall of 1926 when the writer was first impressed with the abundance and variety of the fall and winter stonefly population in Illinois. Field observations coupled with the rearing and collection of stoneflies were focused from 1926 to 1929 chiefly on our fall and winter fauna, resulting in the publication by myself in 1929 of a detailed report concerning the "Fall and Winter Stoneflies, or Plecoptera, of Illinois." After the appearance of this paper attention was directed mainly to the species constituting our spring and summer stonefly fauna and a minimum of effort and time has since been spent in study of the fall and winter species. The present paper, then, is a summary of our stonefly studies which have been more or less continuous since 1926. For completeness this report has not been limited to the spring and summer forms but includes an entire survey of the plecopteran fauna of Illinois, which makes it possible to present a classification unrestricted by the seasonal idiosyncrasies of species, genera or families. It offers, too, an opportunity to add further data concerning some of the fall and winter species not available at the time of the 1929 paper, and perhaps most important, it enables the presentation of a balanced and comparative picture of the stoneflies of this state.published or submitted for publicationis peer reviewe