liY R. J. tlLLTARl). 289 



Several gravid females were taken, but we could not persuade 

 them to Ifiy any eggs. All attempts at unravelling the life- 

 history have so far failed. All we can be certain of is that the 

 larval stage must be either aquatic or semi-aquatic, since the 

 insects are confined to the neighbourhood of water. The presence 

 of cerci in the female suggests that the eggs are carefully placed, 

 either upon moist ground, or upon the stems of plants fringing 

 the water-courses or the borders of lakes. 



These insects differ so greatly from all existing Mecoptera that 

 1 have no hesitation in placing them in a new family, which will 

 contain a single new genus and four new species. 



Family NAN:N'0CH0KISTID^, fam.nov. 



(Text-fig. 1). 

 Mecopterous insects of small size (expanse of wing ll-18mm.). 

 Ilend small and globular, with large compound eyes and three 

 ocelli. AiUennct {^\-cit{i xvii., fig. 6) elongated, composed of 22-25 

 joints, of which the first two are stouter than the rest, the third 

 slender and much elongated. Mouth-parts very remarkable 

 (Plate xvii., figs 7-9). Labrum and epipharynx (Fig.7, /6r, <?ju») 

 forming a sharply projecting beak, somewhat more prominent 

 in the female than in the male; the epipharynx is fused basally 

 to the underside of the labrum, but separable from it at the tip. 

 Mandibles (Fig. 7, Did) vestigial, weakly chitinised triangular 

 pieces at the sides of the labrum, without teeth. Maxilla3 (Figs. 

 8, 9) well-developed, with small cardo (c) and elongated stipes 

 {st). Maxillary palpi (mxp) long, five-jointed, hairy, the basal 

 and terminal joints somewhat swollen, the others subcylindrical. 

 The third joint carries a conspicuous disk-like sense-organ {so) 

 ringed with black chitin,and bearing on its face numerous minute 

 pits. Inner lobe of maxilla (il) an elongated piece of delicate, 

 almost colourless chitin, carrying rows of closely-set delicate 

 hairs; the tip rounded. In their natural position, the two 

 inner lobes are held with their distal ends in contact in a vertical 

 plane, lying above and upon the proboscis, so that they may 

 possibly help to form a sucking-tube with the latter organ. 

 These lobes appear in situ as part of the proboscis, and might 



