358 



NOTES ON AUSTRALIAN NEUROPTERA AND THEIR 

 LIFE-HISTORIES. 



By Walter W. Froggatt, F.L.S. 



The Neuroptera treated of in this paper, with one exception 

 [Bittacus australis), all belong to the Family Hemerohiidcp. This 

 has been subdivided into seven Subfamilies containing a number 

 of very handsome lace-wings, of which the ant-lions are probably 

 the best known. Although nearly fifty years have elapsed since 

 most of the Australian species were described, little or nothing 

 has been recorded about their habits or transformations; yet 

 several species are common in the neighbourhood of Sydney, and 

 the funnel-shaped pits of the larval ant-lions are common in any 

 dry sheltered sandy place. I am not aware that anj^one has kept 

 the larvae and bred the perfect insects so that the species could be 

 determined. 



All our known species have been described from dead, shrivelled, 

 and sometimes very old and mutilated specimens, obtained from 

 collectors without any definite habitats; and, as in the case of 

 many of Walker's descriptions, in which colour and size are the 

 chief characters given, when the living or freshly-captured insects 

 are examined their characters do not agree always with those 

 mentioned in the original descriptions. 



Through the kindness of Dr. Sharp, of the Cambridge Uni- 

 versity Museum, to whom I submitted a number of t3^pical 

 Neuroptera for determination, and after a careful examination of 

 the specimens in the Macleay Museum, in conjunction with the 

 descriptions of Leach and Walker, I have been able to get my 

 specimens identified and named. 



During the last few years, while visiting the country districts 

 on departmental work, I have had opportunities of collecting the 

 larvce of some of these insects and breeding out the imagines. 



