36 NEW ZEALAND NEUROPTERA. 



ginal area acute in front and with relatively scanty neuration in the narrow 

 axillar region. Median caudal seta rudimentary. 

 Distribution. — Australia and North America. 



COLOBURISCUS HUMERALIS. 



Palingenia humeralis, Walker, Cat. Neuroptera in 

 Brit. Mus., p. 552 (1853) ; and Baetis remota, Walker, 

 I.e., p. 564 (1853). Coloburus humeralis, Eaton, Trans. 

 Ent. Soc. London, 1871, p. 132, pi. 3, fig. 1, and pi. 6 r 

 fig. 6; and Trans. Linn. Soc, Zool., vol. iii., p. 202, 

 pi. 18, fig. 32a. Coloburiscus humeralis, Hutton, Trans. 

 N. Z., Inst., xxxi., 217. Eaton, Trans. Ent. Soc, 

 London, 1899, p. 290. 



(Plate VI., fig. 8 3\ 9 $ , 11 sub-imago $ , 10 nymph 

 magnified). 



In the North Island this May-fly occurs at W^anganui 

 and is very common in the neighbourhood of Wellington. 

 It has also been taken in Canterbury and Otago in the 

 South Island. 



The expansion of the wings of the male is \\ inches, of the female 

 li inches. The body of both sexes is blackish-brown ; the anterior legs are 

 black, much longer in the male than in the female ; the middle and bind 

 legs are dull yellow with the tarsi blackish. There is a small dull yellow- 

 patch near the base of the fore-wings, and a brown patch on the costa near 

 the apex. The central tail is very short, and the two outer tails are about 

 one and a half times as long as the body. 



The larva of this insect inhabits rapids in swift- 

 running streams during the entire year, mature in- 

 dividuals being, most frequently met with in early 

 spring. 



The length of the nymph, when full grown, is a little more than \ inch. 

 The head is of moderate size ; the antenna? are very slender and about two 

 and a half times as long as the head. The thorax is very large, oval, and 

 convex, the wing-pads closely envelop the hinder portions of the thorax, 

 and are rather inconspicuous. There are six pairs of gills on each side of 

 the abdomen. Each gill is attached by a narrow footstalk ; it becomes broad 

 in the middle and terminates in a widely divergent fork. The entire gill 

 is armed with numerous short stout spines (see Plate XL, fig. 17). The two- 

 outer tails, which are rather stout, are about two-thirds as long as the body, 

 and the central one is very short. The colour of the larva is rich brownish- 

 black and very shining. It is paler on the under surface and at the bases 

 of the limbs. Younger larvte are entirely reddish -brown, becoming gradually 

 darker in colour as they grow older. 



The food of the larva probably consists of decaying 

 vegetable matter. 



These larvae inhabit only the most rapid portions of 

 the stream. They cling very firmly to the stones and 



