I, 1873.] 225 



lie 



INSTEUCTIONS FOE THE COLLECTION AND PEESEEVATION OF 

 NEUEOPTEEOUS INSECTS. 



BY ROBERT M LACHLAN, F. L. S. 

 {continued from p. 176). 



Planipennia. 

 In this division are groiiped all the species witli complete meta- 

 morphoses, excepting the Triclioptera, and as the groups are not so 

 sharply differentiated as those previously treated upon, they will be 

 severally considered in separate paragraphs. Several of the families 

 are not represented in Britain. All insects of this division should be 

 pinned and set in the ordinary way. The larger species may be pinned 

 jinto the collecting box when caught ; the smaller can be placed in 

 pill-boxes or glass tubes, and many may be confined in one receptacle, 

 for they seldom damage each other, and have no scales to I'ub off. 



SlalidcB. — The most familiar representative of this family is the 

 abundant Sialis lutaria (well known to the angler), which swarms 

 on palings, walls, trees, &c., near water in early summer, and may be 

 picked up with the fingers ; its flight is slow and steady, but sufficient 

 examples can always be obtained without the use of a net. It is fre- 

 quently mistaken for a caddis-fly. Only this genus exists in Europe ; 

 but there are other exotic genera, and some of the species of CorydaUs 

 (a genus peculiar to America) are among the largest insects known, 

 some being nearly six inches in expanse of wings, and the males 

 usually provided with enormously elongated mandibles, the use of 

 which is not clearly evident,* as they are harmless insects of nocturnal 

 habits. Another genus, Clmuliodes, is found both in the old and new 

 worlds ; some of the species are very pretty, and many remarkable for 

 the diversified structure of the antennae of the males. All the genera 

 are aquatic in their early stages. 



Baphidiidce {SnaJce-Jlies) .—A. small group, peculiar to temperate 

 climates, remarkable for the greatly elongated prothorax. The larvfe 

 live under the bark of trees, feeding upon other larvae, &c. The per- 

 fect insects may be taken by beating the boughs over the net, and 

 fir trees are the most favourable for this operation ; they may also be 

 occasionally found on the ti-unks. Their flight is probably nocturnal, 

 for they seldom show any inclination to use their wings when captured 

 in the day-time. Up to the present time they have only been found 

 in Europe, Northern Asia, and Western North America. 



* A very interesting account of the metamorphoses and habits of Corydaiis is to be found in 

 the ' American Entomologist,' vol. i, pp. Gl — fi'2. It is there stated that one use of these enor- 

 mous mandibles is to seize the female. — R. McL. 



