THE ENTOMOLOGIST 
Vou. XUIT.] JUNE, 1909. [No. 553 
RAPHIDIA MACULICOLLIS. 
By Wed. Lueas;. BeA.; 2 HS: 
(PxuatE IV.) 
On April 9th last Mr. G. T. Lyle and myself found near 
Rinefield in the New Forest a living pupa evidently belonging to 
one of the species of Raphidia (Snakefly). It was discovered in 
a piece of a branch about three inches in diameter lying on the 
sround, and in a decaying condition though not in an advanced 
state of decay. The very lively pupa had its limbs and other 
appendages free, and nothing could be seen in the nature of a 
cocoon. It was about one centimeter in length and the wing- 
cases were about three millimeters long. In colour it was 
generally pale yellowish, except that the abdomen was covered 
dorsally with large brown spots symmetrically arranged, that 
the eyes were very dark, and that the jaws were brownish. 
By April 25th the pupa had become much darker than it was 
when found, at any rate on the dorsal aspect and especially 
anteriorly. It was kept in a small glass-topped box amongst 
loose bits of decaying wood, and was taken to Kingston when I 
returned on April 27th. Resting as it did on its side, in the 
semicircular position depicted on Fig. 1, it looked a peculiarly 
helpless object. In the evening of April 29th I found it had 
crawled up the side of the box and so was using its legs in the 
manner customary with insects, and therefore presented the 
dorsal aspect upwards. 
By the morning of April 30th the imago had appeared and 
the pupal skin remained attached to the side of the box. It had 
probably but lately emerged as it seemed to be rather teneral 
and its colour became darker during the day. Towards evening 
it was noticed to be running about the box in a very lively way. 
A gnat (apparently Chironomus dorsalis) was introduced into 
the box, but the snakefly appeared to be afraid of it, though the 
gnat was at length seized and the Raphidia appeared to be eating 
it. The gnat was, however, soon set free, and was only partly 
ENTOM.—JUNE, 1909. °M 
