December, 1870.] 145 
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE NEUROPTEROUS GENUS SIALIS 
IN CHILI. 
BY R. M’LACHLAN, F.L.S. 
It has long been known that the Chilian insect-fauna includes seve- 
ral genera otherwise peculiar to the temperate portions of the northern 
hemisphere, but which put in an appearance in that country, though 
absent in the intervening regions. It would perhaps be wrong to say 
that the forms are absolutely identical, but the differences are so 
slight as to render it unnecesary to separate them generically. Another 
link in the chain of resemblances has just occurred to me. In a collec- 
tion of Chilian insects sent home by Mr. Read, is a ‘Sialis, which, 
though differing somewhat in facies from the northern forms, may yet 
be retained in the genus. It should, however, be noted that a species 
has been already described from Cuba, so that the evidence is not quite 
of the same weight as that afforded by some other genera. I propose 
to describe Mr. Read’s insect as— 
SIALIS CHILENSIS, 2. sp. 
S. fusco-nigra; capite rufescente, fusco-nebuloso. Prothorax 
anguste transversus. Abdominis lamina ventralis in processum lanceo- 
latum producta. Ale fumatze: antice elongate, angustate, obtuse ; 
venis paullo elevatis, nigris; area costali angustata, vix dilatata: 
postice anticis paullo latiores. ¢. 
Long. corp. 7 mill. ; exp. alar. 29 mill. 
Head reddish, an impressed median longitudinal line reaching the hind 
margin, joining a sinuate line in front before the antennz; frontal portion, and a 
large space on each side of the median line suffused with fuscous, a fuscous spot 
on each side below the eyes; labrum truncate in front, testaceous; antenna and 
palpi black, the former very slender; eyes larger and much more prominent than 
in the other species of the genus. Thorax: prothorax blackish-fuscous, very 
narrow, forming a transverse parallelogram; meso- and meta-thorax blackish- 
fuscous ; the whole thorax with a very short pubescence. Legs blackish-fuscous, 
with short pubescence ; lobes of the fourth tarsal joints beneath, and the claws, 
testaceous. Abdomen black; ventral lamina commencing as a broad triangular 
base, the apex being drawn out into an acute lanceolate process curved over the 
apex of the abdomen (appendices not definable in the dried insect). 
Wings uniformly smoky, somewhat shining, the membrane with very short 
black hairs; in each wing there is a pale space below the junction of the radius 
to the costal margin; veins comparatively fine, little elevated, black. Anterior 
wings long and narrow, the apex longly elliptical; costal area narrow, very slightly 
dilated, with about seven nervules ; upper branch of the sector simply furcate at 
its end (like the lower); an oblique line of three transverse nervules before the 
apex; discal nervules few : posterior wings slightly broader than the anterior; the 
sub-costa and radius conspicuously black; transverse nervules few in number. 
