PSYCHE 
Vol. 63 September, 1956 No. 3 
THE BALTIC AMBER SNAKE-FLIES (NEUROPTERA) 
By F. M. Carpenter 1 
Harvard University 
The snake-flies, comprising the neuropterous suborder 
Raphidiodea, have had a long geological record. Like the 
scorpion-flies (Mecoptera), they appear to have been more 
extensively represented generically and specifically in pre- 
vious geological periods than at present. They have been 
described from the Permian of Kansas and Russia (Carpen- 
ter, 1943; Martynova, 1952), the Jurassic of Turkestan 
(Martynov, 1925; Martynova, 1947), the Miocene of Color- 
ado (Carpenter, 1936), and the Oligocene of the Baltic 
amber. 
For some reason, they are exceedingly rare in the amber. 
Only one species has been reported in the literature up to 
the present time; this is Hagen’s Raphidia ( Inocellia ) eri- 
gena, which was described just about a century ago (1854). 
My own efforts to secure amber snake-flies, extending over 
two decades, have yielded but four specimens. Since I have 
had these at hand for several years and especially since I 
have little hope of obtaining additional specimens in the 
near future, I am presenting here an account of this small 
collection. 
Three species are represented by this new material : one 
of these is Hagen’s erigena, which turns out to belong to 
Fibla; another is a new species of Raphidia , and the third 
is a very peculiar species, which I am assigning to Inocellia . 
1 Published with the aid of a grant from the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology at Harvard College. 
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