Genus Mantispa. 253 



and fourth joints of equal shape and size, whereas in Raphidia the 

 third joint is deeply bilobed, concealing the fourth minute joint in 

 the incision. The parts of the mouth are also less like those of 

 Raphidia than they are of those of Hemerobius. Hence in my In- 

 troduction, T separated Mantispa from the Raphidiidce, and formed 

 it into a distinct family, Mantispidce. I am now also enabled, by 

 the observations of Messrs. Fortnum and Wilson on Australian 

 species of the genus, to corroborate the propriety of this separation 

 by the knowledge of the mode in which the eggs are deposited 

 by the female Mantispce, which is exactly in the same manner as 

 in the Hemerobii, namely, by attaching each egg at the extremity 

 of a long and very delicate footstalk. How far this circumstance 

 will render necessary the junction of Mantispa with Hemerobius, 

 and the suppression of my family Mantispidce, is a subject which 

 a knowledge of the real larva and of the pupa state of the Man- 

 tispce will alone enable us to determine. In the mean time, it ap- 

 pears to me far more advisable to retain the family as proposed in 

 my Introduction, and which has been done by M. Rambur, in his 

 volume on Neuroptera in the Suites a Buffon (Neur. p. 431). 



Like Gryllotalpa and several other equally anomalous genera, 

 Mantispa is found in every quarter of the globe, including New 

 Holland. The latter country is denied to the genus by Messrs. 

 Swainson and Shuckard, in their volume on Insects in Lardner's 

 Cabinet Cyclopaedia, p. 344 ; but it will be seen by the present 

 paper that a number of species have now been received from dif- 

 ferent parts of Australasia. 



Dr. Erichson, in his Monograph in the first volume of Germar's 

 "Zeitschriftfurdie Entomologie," published descriptions of twenty- 

 four species, fourteen of which are from the New World, six from 

 Africa, two from Europe, one from Asia, and one of doubtful 

 locality. As Dr. Erichson's Latin characters are very short, it will 

 be serviceable to give them in this paper, in order to concentrate 

 our knowledge of the genus up to the present time. 



1. M. semihyalina* : obscure caerulea, antennis pedibusque an- 

 ticis basi testaceis. Long. 8 — 10 lin. Brazil and Surinam. 



2. M. brunnea (Say, Am. Ent. ii. pi. 25) : brunnea, alis antice 



* In consequence of the confusion in the nomenclature of the larger insects 

 of the genus, the name and synonymy of this species will stand as follows: — 

 Mantispa semihyalina. 

 Mantispa semihyalina, Serville and St. Fatgeau, Enc. Meth. x. p. 270 ; Rambur, 



H. Nat. Ins. Neur. p. 434, pi. 10, fig. 5. 

 Mantispa chalybea, Erichson in Germar's Zeitschr. f. d. Ent. i. 160. 

 Mantispa grandis, Burmeister, Hand. d. Ent. ii. 967 (nee M. grandis, Gue>in, 

 nee M. grandis, Erichs.). Brazil. 



