1886.1 33 



NOTES CONCERNING- CHRYSOPA VENTRALIS, PBASINA, 

 ABDOMINALIS, ASPERSA, AND ZELLERI. 



BY ROBERT McLACHLAN, F.R.8., &c. 



The question of the specific distinction, or otherwise, of the con- 

 ditions bearing the above names has long engaged my attention, 

 and that of otber European entomologists interested in Neuroptera- 

 Planipennia. 



Very recently, circumstances induced me to give the subject more 

 special investigation, and the remarks I here offer may be of interest, 

 even if my conclusions do not meet with universal acceptance. 



Those who have paid some attention to European Chrysopce will 

 recognise the names enumerated above as representing a group of 

 species, varieties, or conditions, characterized by the wings having a 

 partially black and partially pale neuration, loith a (usually) conspicuous 

 hlack dot at the extreme base of the costa : a hlack point between 

 the antennce ; two black marks on either side of the face (on the 

 genge and clypeus respectively) ; the palpi annulated with black ; the 

 pronotum above with black (or blackish) points (often connected into 

 two longitudinal lines), and with two or three black spots (occasionally 

 connected) on its edges. These characters are common to all, but 

 there are often additional points on the basal joint of the antennae, on 

 the vei'tex, on the mesothorax, &c. And the whole question virtually 

 concerns the amount of importance to be attached to the number and 

 position of the black points on the head, thorax, and abdomen, and the 

 condition of the black variation in the neuration. All seem to agree 

 in form, and in special structure (so far as this can be ascertained). 

 If I mistake not, far too much importance has been given to "spotting" 

 in differentiating European Chrysopce, and the same remark probably 

 obtains with equal force in extra-European forms, notably in the North 

 American group of which Ch. oculata, 8ay, may be taken as an 

 example. 



Ch. ventealis, Curtis (Brit. Ent., pi. clxx, 1834).— I place this first in order 

 of precedence in these notes, because if all the five forms here considered be 

 eventually regarded as only conditions of one species (which I think probable), the 

 name ventralis has the right of priority. The form is especially remarkable for the 

 ventral surface of the abdomen being black (excepting at the apex), but with the 

 segmental divisions conspicuously pale during life ; the prosternum is partially (or 

 nearly wholly) black or blackish (the colour often forming a Y-shaped marking), and 

 there are usually conspicuous black marks above the insertion of the coxee on the 

 mososternum. There is occasionally a black point on the basal joint of the antennae, 

 and in some examples (from England, Holland, France, and the Rhine Valley) I see 



