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BRITISH NEUROPTERA, 1911. 



By W. J. Lucas, B.A., F.E.S. 



With the advent of the new year the Neuropterist may 

 commence out-door operations, and the capture of more species 

 than one may at once reward him for his trouble. On January 

 29th I met with my first example in 1911 — a specimen of 

 Hemerobms stigma (one of the Brown Lace-wings), which was 

 beaten from a small Scotch-fir by the margin of the Black Pond 

 on Esher Common, Surrey. The species is, however, continuous 

 as an imago, and I believe I have taken it in that condition in 

 every month of the year. 



Of the Sialidse (Alder-tlies) I have but one record, a male of 

 the common Sialis lutaria, which was taken at Lochinver in 

 Sutherland by Col. J. W. Yerbury on June 23rd. 



Personally I made no captures of the Raphidiidae, though I 

 sought for specimens near the Black Pond, Esher, on June 4th, 

 and found pupa skins. These insects seem to be ui)on the wing 

 for quite a short period. Lieut. -Col. Nurse, writing on June 8th, 

 said that he found a pupa and two larvae of RapJddia notata. 

 The latter two duly pupated, but unfortunately they were 

 thrown away by mistake. He also obtained a small larva of 

 Eaphidia in a spruce-fir cone. In May Mr. G. B. Oliver of 

 Wolverhampton sent me a living female of R. xanthostigma and 

 a pupa-case, saying that the imago was found on the 14th of the 

 month, apparently freshly emerged, near the empty case on an 

 oak-trunk m Sutton Colddeld Park. Later he sent me another 

 living female, which fell from oak when he was larva-beating on 

 June 6th at Sutton Coldfield. This species closely resembles 

 the much scarcer one, P. cognata. 



Next come the Hemerobiidae, While I was on a visit to the 

 New Forest in April, Mr. D. Sharp caught in Blackwater near 

 Rhinefield, and gave to me, three larvae of Osmylus chrysops, the 

 finest of our Neuroptera. After I had left the Forest he wrote 

 to me on May 13th, saying : — " I have been able to get only one 

 more larva of Osmylus. It appears to be an amphibious insect, 

 not aquatic ; it runs, not swims. It puts out from behind two 

 delicate tubes, armed with some curious processes. I do not 

 recollect having seen any special remark concerning them. The 

 figure in the Cambridge Natural History shows them, but it is a 

 poor figure, and the antennae too are different from those of my 

 specimen. I think the tubes assist in locomotion, but this can 

 scarcely be their primary function." Of Sisyra fuscata, the 

 interesting little creature whose larva feeds in freshwater 

 sponge, I have two records. One specimen was taken at 

 Lochinver on July 11th by Col. Yerbury, and another was 

 captured at Barnham in Suftolk by Lieut. -Col. Nurse. 



