llAVHIDllDf;, RAPHrDTA. 12{J 



Sp. % f'atidicus. Ochraceiis, nhdnmine ovafo, ore pnllido, oculis fiixcis. (Long-. 



Corp. f — 1 Jin.) 

 Ter. fatidicum. Linne.—Ai. fatedicum. Stcph. CataL 314. No. 3526. 

 Ochreous : body ovate ; eyes fuscous ; antennae and mouth pale. 



Found, occasionally, in collections of insects, &c. 



Family IV.— RAPHIDlIDiE, Leach. 



Antennce ueav]y setaceous: ocelli three, arranged in a triangle: thorax with its- 

 first segment, or collar, very much elongated, narrow ; 2nd, or melathorax, 

 broader and shorter : wings of nearly equal size, reticulated : abdomen 

 elongate, compressed, spft: legs slender; tibiee cylindric ; spurs minute 

 tarsi with four distinct joints, the last but one bilobate. Larva sontiewhat 

 linear-elongate, soft, pubescent, dilated in the middle : head elongate, 

 smooth; collar corneous and elongate; legs six, whitish ; pupa quiescent, 

 with the parts exposed as in those of Tenthredinidfe. 



The insects belonging to this family may be instantly recognised 

 by the great length of their neck, or collar, to which is attached a 

 large obovate head, having the eyes prominent laterally and rather 

 forward, the clypevis broad, inflected, &c. ; the wings are all nearly 

 alike and of similar bulk, with very distinct nervures, but which 

 frequently differ on the opposite wings of the same individual, though 

 there is a general habit of permanence existing :— one genus only is 

 found in Britain. 



Genus XXIV.— RAPHIDIA Auctorum. 



Antennce with very numerous, short, articulations, the two basal ones largest ; 

 ^aZpe filiform, maxillary four-jointed; labial three-jointed : lahrum somewhat 

 quadrate, rounded in front : mandibles acute : head oval, narrowed behind, 

 inflexed : clypeus broad : eyes prominent : collar very long, cylindric, slightly 

 narrowed in front : wings deflexed, nervures slightly hairy : abdomen of the 

 males, with two teeth at the apex ; of the females, with a compressed, 

 elongate, transversely-striated, and somewhat incurved ovipositor. 



As above stated, there is but one indigenous genus of this family, 

 which may be known by its very long cylindrical neck, which is 

 slightly narrowed in front, and bears the head, as it were, on a long 

 footstalk — thence called Snake-flies : — their larvae somewhat resemble 

 those of the Hemerobidae, are active, soft, elongate, dilated in the 

 middle ; subsists on other larva? beneath the bark of trees, &c. and 



Mandibulata, Voi,. VI., August 15Tir, 1836- r 



