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X. Synopsis of the Species of Panorpa occurring in Europe 

 and the adjoining Countries ; with a Description 

 of a singular neiv Species from Java. By R. 

 McLachlan, F.L.S., Sec, Ent. Soc. 



[Bead 15th March, 1869.] 



In this paper I have attempted to give a synopsis of 

 the European species of Panorpa, with comparative diag- 

 noses in a tabular form^ and remarks. I enumerate 

 twelve species^ whereof two are insufficiently known, and 

 five are new^ two of the latter coming from Mingrelia, 

 a country which, though politically forming part of 

 Europe, is more decidedly Asiatic. 



Owing to the similarity of markings, much confusion 

 has existed ; but the decided characters exhibited in the 

 abdomen of the male, especially in the four terminal seg- 

 ments, separate the species very readily; the form of 

 the two narrow appendices lying on the face of the 

 claw-bearing terminal segment is also a means of differ- 

 entiating closely allied forms ; and the parts under these 

 appendices would, no doubt, well repay attentive study, 

 in the living insect. The markings in the wings furnish 

 less important characters ; for though each species has a 

 certain typical arrangement of the markings, the devia- 

 tions are so many, and frequent, that reliance cannot be 

 placed on it alone. The neuration is probably still more 

 given to vary, especially in the number of the furcations ; 

 but the comparative length of the sub-costal vein divides 

 the species into two groups. The number of teeth in 

 the claws of the tarsi is not noticed in this paper, because, 

 in dry specimens, one or more of the teeth are frequently 

 hidden by the large spongy pulvillus, and hence this 

 character is a dangerous one on which to ground specific 

 distinctions. 



In the citations of authors, only the most important 

 are noticed ; and I have omitted Klug's monograph alto- 

 gether, because all the European species are grouped 

 therein under P. communis, and no indication given of 

 the male abdominal characters ; in Westwood^s mono- 

 graph the same omission occurs for the European forms; 

 but at the time these two works were published, these 

 all-important characters were little understood. In 

 Walker's British Museum Catalogue several species are 

 confounded under P. germanica and communis, 



TKANS. ENT. SOC. 1869. — PART I. (APEIL) . 



