LIBELLULIDA. 197 
excavated or straight (rounded in the [Oriental and Australian] Hemicor- 
dulia), with an anal triangle . . 1 ee ee ee ew ee ew ee 6.) 6CORDULINE. 
Eyes not produced posteriorly, venation of the anal margin similar in the two 
sexes; males without auricles, anal margin rounded, no analtriangle. . . LipenLuvina. 
This classification was universally followed until 1901, when Prof. Needham divided 
the Selysian Corduline into Macromiine and Corduline, having equivalent rank 
with the Libelluline *. With two exceptions, the Corduline (sensw Selysit) have 
not been recorded from Mexico or Central America, nor have published inquiries f 
as to their occurrence there elicited any additional information. The exceptions 
referred to are a male Somatochlora lepida, Selys, in the collection of the Academy 
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, labelled ‘‘ Mex.,” I think erroneously, and a 
passage in Cabot (Mem. Mus. Comp. Zool. xvii. no. 1, p. 20, 1890) :—* Two probably 
full-grown nymphs [of a Macromia] in alcohol, from Caderita, south of Monterey, 
New Leon, Mex., by Mr. Couch, 1853.... As no species is known from Mexico, no 
supposition can be made.” Prof. Needham first called my attention to this statement 
and added (letter of Oct. 19, 1903): ‘The absence of Corduline from Mexico is very 
interesting.... I have been thinking that possibly they are replaced there and 
their function in natural society fulfilled there by the Macrothemis group of 
Libelluline. Both nymphs and imagos have many analogous characteristics. I 
have recently described nymphs of Paltothemis lineatipes and Dythemis velox, both 
of which, when I first saw them, I took to be Cordulines.” By way of comment 
it may be added that the Museum of Comparative Zoology possesses Macromia 
magnifica, Hagen, from Arizona, that the Caderita nymphs may perhaps belong 
to this species, that in the Old World Macromia crosses the Equator in Africa 
and in Malaysia, that it is of interest, in view of Prof. Needham’s suggestion of 
replacement, to note that the genera Macrothemis, Brechmorhoga, Scapanea, and 
Paltothemis (but not Dythemis) possess the antero-distal bundle of hairs on the first 
femora which de Selys ascribed to his Corduline, except Macromia | Epophthalinia 
and Didymops|, and that I find in the notes of Mr. E. B. Williamson, who has 
recently collected Brechmorhoga in Guatemala, the following observations on species 
of this genus, made at two different localities :—“ Flight very swift and Gomphine- 
or Corduline-like,” and “ Flies like a Corduline and like Macromia.” 
M. René Martin has also written me (Sept. 9, 1904): “Quant a existence de 
* Bull. 47, New York St. Mus. pp. 479, 480. Prof. Needham’s characters separating these three subfamilies 
are founded on the venation. A discussion or use of them here is not necessary, owing to the practical 
absence of his Corduline and Macromiine from the present fauna. It may be useful to mention, however, 
that, in the study of his proposal, the following genera may be profitably examined :—Epophthalmia (Asiatic 
species), Gomphomacromia, Onygastra, Agrionoptera, Tetrathemis, Allorhizucha, Orchithemis, Calophlebia, 
Nannophya, Nannothemis, Thermochoria, &c. 
+ Ent. News, xiv. p. 242; Ent. Monthly Mag. (2) xiv. p. 227. 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Neuropt., October 1905. ad 
