210 [Febrviary, 



doo8 not supcrflcially at all resemble its ally, the common Blastophagus piniperda, 

 having a much longer thorax, and being of more cylindrical shape ; its elytra are 

 duller, being very closely rugulosely asperated, with thick and conspicuous yelloTT 

 hairs behind. The Tomicus is very closely allied to T. laricis, but is smaller, with 

 decidedly outwardly curved (iustead of straight) sutures to the joints of the club of 

 its antennse, rather paler pubescence, somewhat less coarsely punctured strise to its 

 elytra, of which the retuse apex is smaller, and the denticulation rather different, 

 and narrower front tibiae. The immature material at my disposal is scarcely 

 BufRcient for a decided opinion upon this insect. — E. C. Rye, Parkficld, Putney, 

 S.W. : Januari/, 1874. 



Note concerning AcantliacUsis americana, Drury. — At the recent sale of Mr_ 

 Norris's collection, I obtained the few Neuropterous insects therein contained. They 

 were, of course, very old, and for the most part in very bad condition, still there 

 were several species, principally American and African, that are now never sent by 

 collectors, and in fact known only in a few old collections. I retained only the best 

 specimens, leaving the others behind ; greatly to my regret, for there is scarcely a 

 possibility of doubt, as I afterwards discovered, that most of Drury's types of the 

 Neuroptera figured in his ' Exotic Entomology,' were contained in the collection. 

 Through the means of a marked catalogue in Prof. Westwood's possession, I find 

 that Haworth purchased most of Drury's Neuroptera : into whose hands they passed 

 at the sale of Haworth's collection I have not been able to trace, but several insects 

 in the Norris collection bore the characteristic Haworthian triangular labels, with his 

 handwriting, and possibly Mr. Norris obtained them direct. In scarcely any instance 

 is there a locality label. Among others — e. g., Palamnema Paulina and Iletcerina 

 Titia — is what I have no doubt is the type of Myrineleon americanum, S > Drury 

 (agreeing entirely with his figure), a species little understood. I have seen nothing 

 exactly like it, but am not certain that the widely distributed Acanthaclisis fallax, 

 Rambur, is really distinct therefrom. The wings are much more marked with fuscous 

 than in a,nj fallax yet seen by me, and the broad median dark band on the pronotum 

 is entire, whereas in fallax it appears to be always longitudinally divided, or forked, 

 anteriorly. Although A. fallax is often sent over, the S appears to be rarely ob- 

 served, and I have only examined one in the British Museum collection. In the 

 markings of the pronotum, and in general appearance, it does not differ from the ? , 

 nor do the anal appendages differ in structure from those of the, as I believe, type of 

 americana. The expanse of wings is about 5 inches 1 line (equalling about 127 

 millimetres). The locality given by Drury is New York ; but it is more likely to 

 have been taken there from one of the Southern States. Burmeister (Haudbuch, ii, 

 p. 99G) has a species which he refers to americana (from South Carolina), but it is 

 placed in the section (of MgrmeleonJ with geniculate spurs, though this is likely to 

 be an error. According to Hagen (N. Amer. Neurop., p. 223), Burmeister's type is a 

 $, and considerably smaller (not 'larger,' an obvious misprint in the description), 

 expanding only 96 millimetres. I incidently mentioned above, Hetcerina Titia, 

 Drury, as forming part of the collection. It is a (J, and agrees precisely with 

 Drury's figure in having a somewhat rounded pale space before the pterostigma in 

 the hind-wings, possibly a scarce form of this variable species, for it appears to be 

 known to De Selys-Longchamps only from the figure, further evidence that the in- 

 sects are, in all probability, the actual types. — R. M'Lachlan, Lewisham : October 

 Uh, 1873. 



