252 



MR. R. M'LACHLAN ON A SYSTEMATIC 



G-enus Orphne, Lefebvre. 



Wings long, very narrow at the base, afterwards somewhat dilated; 

 anterior pair appendicnlate : network rather close ; transverse 

 branch of the lower cubitus in the posterior wings not evident, 

 the postcosta not sinuous. The posterior wings differ greatly 

 according to sex : in the 6 there is a very large obtuse dilata- 

 tion of the inner margin before the base ; in the $ this dilata- 

 tion is absent, and these wings are much narrower. 



Antenna slightly longer than the wings, the base furnished with 

 sparse verticillate hairs ; club pyriform. 



Eyes with the divisions equal. 



Thorax moderately villose. 



Abdomen slender in the 6 , slightly more robust in the 2 ■ 



Legs slender, the spurs of the posterior tibiae equalling the first 



four tarsal joints. 

 Hab. South America. 



This genus has an evident and great affinity with Colobopterus, 

 from which it especially differs in the appendiculate anterior 

 wings and in the great disparity of the form of the posterior wings, 

 according to sex. I consider it to be certainly the genus intended 

 by Lefebvre, as it is the only one that will agree with the cha- 

 racters given by him (" Ailes appendiculees ; antennes plus 

 longues que les ailes "). But he was certainly in error in re- 

 ferring his species to appendiculatus of Fabricius ; and this ap- 

 pears to have misled Hagen, who (Stett. Zeit. 1866, p. 454) 

 makes Orphne equivalent to Haploglenius. 



Species. 



1. O. impavida, Walker. (Ascal. impavidus, Walk. Cat. Brit. Mus. 

 Neurop. p. 443, $ . — A. intempestivus, Walk. op. cit. p. 444, ? .) 



Hab. Amazons. 



2. O. macrocerca, Burmeister. (Ascal. macrocercus, Burm. Handb. 

 ii. p. 1000.) 



Hab. Bahia. 



Unknown to me ; possibly identical with 0. impavida. Bur- 

 meister' s examples were probably females, although he indicates 

 that he had seen both sexes. As I have before stated, the abdo- 

 mens of the females vary greatly in robustness in the same species 

 in Ascalaphidfe. 



