312 



MONOGRAPH OF THE GENUS SYNTHEMIS. 



By R. J. TiLLYARD, M.A., F.E.S. 



[Neuroptera : Odonata.] 

 (Plates iv.-viii.) 



Introduction. 



The genus Synthemis was proposed by de Selys, in 1871,* in 

 order to receive those species of the subfamily Corduliinoi in 

 which both the basilar and submedian wing-spaces were reticu- 

 lated. The type of the new genus was Epophthahnia enstalacta 

 Burmeister.f De Selys described in his " Synopsis des Cordu- 

 lines"{1871) five other species of the genus, viz., S. miranda, S. 

 onacrostiffma, S. leachii, S. guttata, and S. hrevistyla, besides 

 giving his own description of the type »!?. eustalacta, and pointing 

 out the important dififerences between it and the other species of 

 the genus Epophthahnia. Three years later, in his "Additions 

 au Synopsis des Corduliues"(1874)| he added two more species, 

 viz., tS. regina and S. virgula. Tlie habitat of all these species 

 was Australia, with the exception of S. miranda, whose locality, 

 it is to be feared, will never be ascertained with certainty. The 

 only known specimen of this, the finest and most interesting 

 dragonfly of the genus, was discovered by de Selys, pinned, for 

 ornamentation, into a lady's hat in a shop in Paris. He secured 

 it at once. It is a broken female, lacking five segments of the 

 abdomen. Its locality was stated to be New Caledonia; but 

 though the Museum in Paris is rich in collections from this 

 colony, another specimen has never been taken. It seems, there 

 fore, that the locality is very much open to doubt. 



Specimens of the genus continued so rare in collections received 

 in Europe from abroad, that it was not until 1901 that another 



* Bull. Acad. Belgique, 1871, xxxi., p. 557, 



t Haudb. Entom. N6vrop. 1839. 



X Bull. Acad. Belgique, 1874, i., p.29. 



