PARASEMIDALIS ANN.E, ENDERLEIN. 171 



The pair separated, in each case observed, after about five or ten 

 minutes. 



Eggs are laid on pine needles, lying attached by their flat 

 sides. They are *4 mm. long, white in colour, oval, but rather 

 short as compared with the eggs of other Coniopterygids. The 

 micropylar end is drawn upwards and pointed. I shall hope 

 shortly to be able to give further details of the life-history of this 

 species, together with a full account of our other British species. 



The Coniopterygidse are well worthy of more attention from 

 entomologists, and present many interesting biological problems. 

 They are semi-gregarious in habits, and where found are usually 

 to be taken in numbers. They fly very little. Variation, especially 

 in wing venation, is common, and as species have been largely 

 named on such characters, the family requires much reinvesti- 

 gation. Being semi-gregarious in habits, with poor locomotive 

 powers, colonies of a form may be found on one tree differing 

 considerably from another form of the same species found else- 

 where. With a view to clearing up some of these points I have 

 been breeding these insects in captivity and studying the forms 

 obtained. Semidalis is thought to possess two British species — 

 S. aleurodij omits, Steph., and S. curtisiana, End. These I find 

 are one and the same, having bred both forms from the eggs of 

 one female. S. curtisiana was separated from S. aleurodiformis 

 by Enderlein on the position of the cross-vein between R x and Rs 

 in both pairs of wings. In S. aleurodiformis this cross-vein 

 strikes the radial sector on the upper arm of fork R M , whereas 

 in S. curtisiana it strikes the stem Rs. In a series of this species 

 — I have examined more than fifty examples — one cau observe all 

 stages between the forms curtisiana and aleurodiformis. The only 

 other character noted by Enderlein is the tarsal ratio, and this 

 I also find variable. The species curtisiana was described from 

 females only. I therefore now figure the male genitalia (Fig. 8), 

 which, of course, are identical for both aleurodiformis and 

 curtisiana. It is highly probable that Parasemidalis fuscipcnnis 

 and P. annae are also one and the same. 



Coniopteryx pygmaea, End., and C. tineiformis, Curt., are good 

 species, having distinct larvae They are, however, liable to 

 variation, and intermediate forms occur which often render 

 determination difficult. 



With the genus Comcentzia I am still somewhat puzzled. 

 We have two species, C.psociformis, Curt., and C.pineticola, End. 

 Bagnall brought forward C. cryptoneuris, Bagn., as a new species 

 in 1915. This is identical with Enderlein's C. piueticola, var. 

 tetensi. Bagnall mentions also the lack of pigmentation of the 

 membrane in the outer cells of the wing, but this is quite 

 unreliable as a character and very variable. The remaining 

 species, C.psociformis and C.pineticola, present many difficulties. 

 They are separated as follows by Enderlein : 



