BY E. J. TILLYARD. 429 



side rather hollowed out. 8een in profile, these appendages are 

 thick, truncate, with the tips enlarged downwards into a large 

 squarish head. Inferior 0-4 mm., small, thin, slightly curved, 

 black; sei)arated by a large rounded downy tubercle( Plate xlvi., 

 figs.1-2). 



Hob. — Kuranda(E. Allen), January, 1908. 



Type: $, Coll. Tillyard. 



This uniipie and wcmdei'ful insect, for the discovery of which 

 we are indebted to the keenness of my friend, Mr. E. Allen, is of 

 the greatest phylogenetic importance, as it supplies the missing 

 link between two very distinct groups or legions of the A(/rio7iid(f, 

 both of which have been claimed to be archaic. Lei^foidea mav 

 be regarded as a form asthf notienetiadi y intermediate between the 

 less-reduced Lestes and the more reduced Frotonenrn. The three 

 forms do not, however, form links in a single chain of descent; 

 for, in their early stages, the Austi-alian genera uf the legion 

 Protwieura show a much closer athnity to Argiolesfes and 

 Diphlebia than they do to Lestes. The full study of these r-ela- 

 tionships cannot be entered into here. It will be sufficient to 

 indicate that the evidence, which 1 have so far accumulated, is 

 strongly in favour of the legion Protoneura being the least archaic 

 of any of the Zyyoptera, except the legion Ayrio/t itself. 



Legion iv. Protoneura. 

 14. NososTiCTA soLiiJA 8elys. (Plate xlvii., hg.2). 



This lieautiful S})ecies is widely distributed in Eastern Aus- 

 tralia. T have taken it at Kuranda, Atherton, and Cooktown, 

 N. (Queensland; on the Bellinger River, N.S. W.; on the Horton 

 River at Pallal, N.iS.W.; and also in the Sycbiey district. M. 

 Mene Martin records it from Alexandra, Vic. De Selys records 

 it ivnm Adelaide. With so large a range, it is scarcely surprising 

 that considerable \ariation occurs. The specimens taken inland 

 at Pallal are larger and more robust than the coa.stal forms. Also 

 there is considerable variation in the length of the superior sector 

 of the triangle, whicli sometimes traverses a whole cell, and some- 



