781 



STUDIES IN AUSTRALIAN iVEUROPTERA. 



No. 7. The Life-History of Psycuopsis elegans (Guerin). 



By R. J. TiLLYARD, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S., F.E.S., Linnean 

 Macleay Fellow of the Society ix Zoology. 



(Plate Ixxix., and twelve Text-figures). 



The only account of the life-history of any species of the family 

 Psyckopsid(e is the short, popular account of the life-history of 

 PsychopsU eleyans Guerin, given by Mr. Luke Gallard in the 

 "Australian Naturalist" of 1914.* From this we learn that 

 Mr. Gallard captured a female of Ps. elegans (he uses the syno- 

 nym newmani Froggatt, throughout, for this species) at Kent- 

 hurst, N.S.W., in 1904. This insect laid over fifty eggs, some 

 of which Mr. Gallard raised to about one- third of the full larval 

 size. Mr. Gallard informs me that it was one of these specimens, 

 newly hatched, which is figured on p. 62 of Mr. Froggatt's "Aus- 

 tralian Insects" as the larva of Pfiychopsis nii'niica Newman. 



Mr. Gallard did not succeed in rearing the imago until 1911. 

 A larva taken in March, 1911, by Mr. J. Blake, of Narara, near 

 Gosford, N.S.W., was kept alive by Mr. Gallard until December 

 11th of the same year, when it spun a cocoon in the box, the 

 imago emerging on January 16th, 1912. Since then, Mr. Gallard 

 has discovered the larvae in many localities round Sydney, and 

 has bred a number of specimens. 



In 1915, when I had begun the study of the Neuroptera 

 Planipennia, and was very anxious to study the Psychopsidce in 

 particular, Mr. Gallard very generously invited me to accompany 

 him in the field, and showed me the ingenious ways by which he 

 found these larvae. I shall never forget the skill and energy 

 that he displayed in this work. As the whole credit for the 

 discovery of this larva rests with him, and is simply due to his 



* "Notes on Psychopsis newmani.'''' By Luke (lallard, Australian 

 Naturalist, iii., Part 3, 1914, pp.29-32. 



