282 STUDIES IN AUSTRALIAN NEUROPTERA, iv., 



stems or other supports on which they could hang while their 

 wings were drying 1 



As the pumps do not work at night, when these insects fly, I 

 think that, if the former supposition were correct, both tanks 

 should have contained numbers of this insect. But, of course, 

 the strong jet of water in tank A may have drowned any insects 

 that fell into it, and rendered them invisible. The abundance 

 of Ithone in tank B (I counted over thirty), their evident imma- 

 turity, and the presence of both sexes, suggests the strong pro- 

 bability that the insect is aquatic in its larval stages. 



Family HEMEROBIID^ (a me restricta). 



Original! V, the family Hemerobiidca was formed to include all 

 those insects which had a complete metamorphosis, a larva with 

 suctorial mouth-parts, and an imago with densely-veined wings 

 and mandibulate mouth-parts. That is to say, the insects in- 

 cluded in this family comprised just exactly those which now 

 form the well-defined and almost universally admitted Order 

 Neuroptera Planipennia Unfortunately, the old, unscientific 

 and out-of-date treatment of the Order continues to be used in 

 many general works on Insects, as, for example, Sharp's "Insects'' 

 in the Cambridge Natural History, 1901(13), and Froggatt's 

 "Australian Insects," 1907(5). The initial step forward was the 

 recognition of the fact that the old Order Neuroptera was a 

 composite grouping. This fact was fully accepted by both 

 Brauer (1885) and Packard (1886), both of whom restricted the 

 Order Neuroptera to the two families Hemerohiida' and Sialidce. 

 The term Neuroptera Planipennia was originally used to include 

 three families, viz., the two just mentioned, and the Panorpidce. 

 With the elevation of this last family into a separate Order 

 (Mecaptera or Panorpatte), and the Sialidce into a further Order 

 Megaloptera,the Neuroptera Planipennia (or, simply, Neuroptera) 

 was left with only those insects which went to form the old family 

 Ilemerobiidcti. The seven subfamilies {Myrmeleontides, Ascala- 

 phides, Nemopterides, Mantispides, Hemerobiides,Chrysopides, and 

 Coniopterygides), into which Hagen (1866) originally divided the 

 family Ilemerobiidce, were then elevated to the rank of separate 



