458 DRAGOXFLIES FROM AUSTRALIA AND TASMANIA, 



Upper part of the frons mucli reduced. Abdomen very wide, 4*5 

 iiini. at seg. 2, 3 mm. at segs. 3-8, segs. 9-10 narrower; markings 

 duller. Appendages short, black, conical, convergent. 



Types in Coll. Tillyard (Cradle Mt., N.W. Tasmania, Jan. 

 ISth, 1917). 



Hab. — Found only at Cradle Mountain, North-West Tasmania, 

 at an elevation of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Very rare. In the 

 cour.se of three weeks' collecting, only eleven males and three 

 females were taken. They Hy fairly fast, very close to- the 

 ground, along the tiny brooklets which drain the swampy areas 

 on the watersheds. They were also occasionally seen flying up 

 the steep sides of the liigh hills buttressing the actual peaks of 

 Cradle Mountain itself. The captures range from January 10th 

 to 21st. All tlie specimens were very mature, some being much 

 torn; so that this species, like its ally Anstropefalia jmtricia, of 

 the Blue Mountains, is evidently a Spring species, and probably 

 appears on the wing late in November, or early in December. 



The larva was searched for, but unsuccessfully. Xo doubt the 

 heavy rains and storms of this region would soon sweep away 

 anv exuviie, so that the only cliance would be to \ isit the moun- 

 tain considerably earlier in the season. 



As indicated in the Introduction to this paper, this species is 

 vnidoubtedly the most archaic of the tribe so far discoxered. 

 Indications of Petalurine affinity are to be found in the very 

 pointed wings of the male, the excessively narrow pterostigma, 

 and the separation of the eyes; all archaic characters, and per- 

 haps deriN ed from a connnon ancestor of the FefaliiruKe, Cordx- 

 le(J((sfri}l(^■, and the earliest ^Eschuliue, of the last of which the 

 tribe Fetaliini appears to be a specialised side-brancli, from near 

 the very base of the subfamily. The lines of specialisation are 

 the remarkable colour-pattern of the wings, the cl(jse approxima- 

 tion of the triangles of all four wings to the arculus, and the 

 unique structure of the anal appendages of the male. The great 

 size of the auricles is possibly an archaic character, and raises 

 the question as to whether these peculiar structures may not 

 have been derived directly from the original abdominal append- 



