ANT-LIONS, LACE WING-FLIES, <(-c. 49 



This beautiful insect appears to be common in most 

 sandy localities in the North Island. 



In the South Island it has been found at Nelson, and 

 occasionally as far south as Christchurch. 



The expansion of the wings of the male is 2J inches, of the female 

 3 inches. " Black, slender, slightly tinged with grey; head yellow towards 

 the mouth, with a yellow spot on each side of the face and a yellow streak 

 by the base of each antenna ; palpi tawny ; antennae wanting. Abdomen 

 much shorter than the wings ; legs black, femora beneath towards the base, 

 and hind-tibiae yellow. Wings slightly grey, long, very narrow, slightly 

 pointed ; pterostigma pale yellow ; veins black with yellow bands ; sub- 

 costal areolets simple, their veins forked at intervals from one-third of the 

 length of the wing to the pterostigma, where there is a dark-brown spot ; 

 rows of dark-brown spots along the radius and its sector, and along the 

 cubitus and its fork ; small brown spots on the forks of the marginal veins 

 and on the gradate veinlets towards the tip of the wing and along the hind 

 border ; a larger brown spot at the tip of the fork of the cubitus and 

 another by the last of the quadrate areolets between the first sector of the 

 radius and the cubitus ; hind-wings a little shorter and narrower than the 

 fore-wings, with a few brown dots towards the tip and along the hind 

 border. Length of the body, 30 mm. ; expanse of the wings, 71 mm " 

 (Walker). 



The perfect insect appears in January and February, 

 and frequents many sandy situations. It is not often 

 observed at large, but is frequently found in houses, having 

 been attracted thither by the lights at night. 



Sub-family II.— HEMEROBIIDES, or LACEWING- 



FLIES. 



" Wings in repose forming an angular roof over the body ; the antennae 

 moniliform or pectinate, not clavate " (Sharp). 



Genus STENOSMYLUS, McLachlan (1867). 



" Prothorax elongated, sub-cylindrical. Wings long and narrow, rounded 

 or acute at the apex, sub-falcate with the apical margin excised in the New 

 Zealand species. Sub-costal nervules numerous, those in the disk very 

 numerous. Tarsal plantulae bifid or deeply excised. 



" Distribution. — Australia and New Zealand " (Hutton). 



At present this extremely interesting genus is only 

 represented in New Zealand by four species. Two of 

 these were discovered comparatively recently, and it may 

 therefore reasonably be anticipated that others still 

 remain to be found. This is especially probable amongst 

 the densely wooded ranges and valleys of the west coast 

 of the South Island, which have been, as yet, but little 

 explored by entomologists. 



