THE LINNEAN ASCALAPHIDAE. 155 



Insect, p. 137, pi. 3, Figs. 5, 5a) under the name Bubo 

 kamatus Klug, a species not being a Bubo at all, but 

 belonging to the asiatic genus Helicomitus Mc. Lachl. and 

 that also wholly agrees with Linnaeus' description. Mac 

 Lachlan describes in the Transact. Ent. Soc. Lond. 1898, 

 p. 160, under the name Bubopsis gravidus, a female from 

 Algeria that, after the description must be barbarus (L.). Though 

 I cannot examine his type at present, I feel sure that it does 

 not belong to Bubopsis. The types of Lucas from Algeria(Paris 

 Mus.) and specimens from Tanger (Brussels Mus.) agree 

 wholly with Mac Lachlan's and Linnaeus' descriptions. 

 Apparently Linnaeus' type was a 9» as the cT cT have 

 the colour of the abdomen more yellow and the black 

 much more reduced. 



Myrmeleon barbarum L. must also be ranged in Heli- 

 comitus Mc, Lachl., which genus was erected for a number 

 of indian species, described by Walker in his famous 

 ''Catalogue". The type is Asc. insimulans Walk, from India, 

 a (ƒ, of which the antennae are remarkably twisted in the 

 basal half. Mac Lachlan held this formation for natural and 

 based his genus upon it as a character, but as I examined 

 many cf cT of the same species with straight antennae, I 

 believe that they are unnaturally deformed after death. I 

 saw the same deformation by (ƒ (ƒ of Bubo festivus Rbr. from 

 Africa, that also belongs in this genus. Helicomitus was 

 hitherto only recorded from Asia where, after the extensive 

 materials that I examined, only occurs one species that 

 varies very much in size and in the colour after the degree 

 of maturity. After a careful examination of all the types, 

 I must bring all the names under dicax Wlk. from 

 India. Later authors as Gerstaecker not being able to 

 distinguish Helicomitus from Suphalasca have augmented 

 the number of synonyms and Mac Lachlan was also unable, 

 after the insufiBcient material he could compare, to distinguish 

 the genera in an intelligible manner. I regard Helicomitus 

 only as a subgenus of Suphalasca which I will work out 

 in my monograph. 



Notes from the Leyden IMuseum, Vol. XXVIII. 



