ON THE NEUROPTEROUS GENUS RAPHIDIA. 141 
time. Pedisca bilunaria oceurs at Kirkby Moss in fair numbers ; 
the series taken last year is considerably darker than my 
southern set from Wimbledon Common. P. solandriana, always 
abundant among birch, occurred in its usual numbers. I gene- 
rally get the scarcer forms best by breeding from Delamere 
larve. Heusimene jfimbriana was a very pleasing capture in 
April, 1907, when I got a single specimen at Delamere; subse- 
quent search for it at the same place has been unsuccessful. At 
the same time and locality Coccyx argyrana was abundant on 
the oaks. 
Perhaps the red-letter record among the Tortrices for 1908 
was the capture of a beautiful specimen of Stigmonota pygmeana ; 
it was beaten from spruce fir in Delamere Forest, one very cold 
day in April. 
At Wallasey, in July, Dicrorampha petiverella was common, 
and a few D. politana also occurred, both flying swifty in the hot 
sunshine. At the same time I was pleased to find that the 
efforts of the golfers have not quite exterminated the very local 
Rhodaria sanguinalis, very close work producing three fair 
examples. D. saturnana is represented by one specimen from a 
garden wall near Sefton Park, Liverpool; probably some tansy 
was growing in the garden on the other side. Mupecilia nana 
occurred at Knowsley and at Simonswood Moss in fair numbers ; 
E. maculosana, one specimen, at Knowsley in 1907. A second 
brood of H. dubitana was noted at Crosby sandhills in Septem- 
ber, 1907, and at the same time Catoptria expallidana, which 
must have been a second brood, was abundant. 
Twyver Works, Warrington New Road, 
St. Helens, Lancashire. . 
ON THE NEUROPTEROUS GENUS RAPHIDIA, Lriyy. 
By CriaupeE Mortey;, F.E.S., F.Z.S. 
One so rarely meets with mention of this genus in periodical 
literature, and Mr. Lucas tells me that so little is known respect- 
ing it that it may not be out of place to offer a few remarks 
from my own experience, very scanty though it be. These 
insects are remarkable for the peculiar elongation of the pro- 
thorax into a snake-like neck bearing a narrow and vicious- 
looking head, and when handled they pose the latter in a terrific 
ophidian manner, as was noted by Kirby and Spence (Introd. 
7th ed. 6), while De Geer says they then eject a drop of brown 
and fetid liquid from their ‘‘ proboscis’’( Mém. ii. 734), though 
his allusion is more probably to the allied genus Panorpa. The 
genus consists of very few species, all of which are confined 
to the Palearctic region; in Britain we have but four, which 
