208 Transactions. — Zoology. 



Aet. XXIII. — The Neuroptera of Neiu Zealand. 



By Captain F. W. Hutton, F.E.S., Curator of the Canter- 

 bury Museum, Christchurch. 



[Read before the PJiilosophical Institute of Canterbury, 22nd February, 



1899.] 



A LIST of our Neurojjtera was published by Mr. R. McLachlan, 

 F.E.S., in the " Annals and Magazine of Natural History " for 

 July, 1873,='' and but little has been added since. This list, 

 however, contains no descriptions, and consequently is not of 

 much use to those New Zealand naturalists who are unable 

 to command a good library. 



At the present time the most important work for entomolo- 

 gists in New Zealand is to observe the habits of our insects, 

 and ascertain their life-histories, for many species are rapidly 

 disappearing. But observing without putting the observa- 

 tions on record is of no use to any one but the observer, and 

 in order to place on record observations on the habits of an 

 insect it is necessary to know its scientific name. If the 

 name of the insect is unknown the observations are useless ; 

 and if a wrong name be given to the insect the observations 

 are worse than useless, for they propagate error and entail 

 confusion until the error is rectiiied. It has been with the 

 idea of helping field-naturalists in New Zealand to name their 

 insects correctly that I prepared the descriptive catalogues of 

 the Diptera, Eymeno^ptera, and Orthoptera, which were pub- 

 lished by the Colonial Museum and Geological Survey in 

 1881 ; and the year before last I presented to this Institute a 

 Synopsis of the New Zealand iJeww^^iera.f It is with the same 

 object in view that I now offer a catalogue of the Neuroptera, 

 compiled almost entirely from Mr. McLachlan 's publications. 

 I had hoped that Mr. McLachlan himself would have drawn 

 up this catalogue, but I have been unable to persuade him to 

 do so. Nevertheless, he has helped me by several criticisms, 

 and, as he has glanced over the paper, I feel confident that no 

 New Zealand species has been omitted. Nevertheless, I alone 

 am responsible for any errors it may contain. 



The Neuroptera have been variously classified by different 

 entomologists, some of whom break them up into several 

 orders, while a few unite the Pseudo-neuroptera and Odonata 

 with the Orthoptera. The classification, however, is of no 



* Reprinted in the Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. vi., Appendix, p. xo. 

 t See Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxx., art. xxi. 



