AMERICAN NEUROPTERA. 97 



NEUROPTEROID INSECTS FROM NEW MEXICO. 



BY NATHAN BANKS. 



A list of the Neiiropteroid insects of any State or Territory must 

 be more or less incomplete, since these insects are but little collected 

 and our knowledge of these forms is yet comparatively slight. 



The insects represented in the following list were collected almost 

 wholly by Prof. Cockerell, or those associated with him. But New 

 Mexico is such a large region, of such varied topography, that these 

 insects, gathered from but a few localities, are but a small portion of 

 the species that must exist in the Territory. Incomplete as this 

 enumeration must now be, it is larger than can be made of many 

 States, and exhibits several interesting facts. Prominent among 

 such facts is the great preponderance of true Neuroptera. More 

 species of Neuroptera are already known from New Mexico than 

 can be collected in many eastern States. The Mecajjtera, so far, 

 are not present. The Trichoptera are not as numerous as in the 

 East; but of these the Rhyacophilidse are in larger proportion than 

 usual. The Perlidfe all come from the northern part and are simi- 

 lar to those of Colorado. Although the northern and mountain 

 parts of New Mexico have a fauna similar to Colorado, yet I sus- 

 pect, judging from this collection, that in many regions where 

 northern forms are predominant there are some species of the 

 Mexican fauna. In other words, the faunas characteristic of certain 

 altitudes, owing to their proximity, more or less intermingle. The 

 faunas are not as distinct as if they were separated by latitude 

 instead of altitude. I am aware that this is not the opinion of 

 many who visit the region, but it is borne out by all collections 

 that I have examined. I think the collector, seeing these different 

 faunas so close together, is impressed too deeply by the contrast. 



In this list there is a total of 97 species, of which 12 are new and 

 here described. A description is also given of an ant-lion fly pre- 

 viously only known from Hagen's description of 1861. 



The proportion of species in the various groups may be seen from 

 the following table : 



PerlidjB . . . . . . . 13 



Termitidse ....... 3 



Psocidse ....... 4 



Ephemeridse ...... 6 



Archiptera ....... 26 



TEANS. AM. ENT. SOC. XXX. (13) APRIL. 1904 



