150 
Psyche 
[June 
THE NEUR0PTER0US LARVAE OF THE BALTIC AMBER 
Without formally naming them, Hagen (1856) provided detailed 
descriptions of two larval specimens which he felt belonged to the 
Neuroptera. The first of these, designated as “Larva Hemerobii”, 
was described as possessing long, scimitar-shaped jaws, a broad head, 
and round, strongly constricted setigerous tubercles on the thorax. 
The remains of a trash packet, consisting of stellate plant hairs, 
was noted to be present in the vicinity of the larva. It has proved 
impossible to learn of the present whereabouts of this larva and this 
is unfortunate since it is quite likely that this specimen is a chrysopid, 
a family, as noted above, otherwise curiously unrepresented in the 
Baltic amber. Hagen suggested that this “Larva Hemerobii” might 
possibly belong to one or another of his several species of amber 
Hemerobiidae, but our knowledge of present-day hemerobiids rules 
this out as their larvae are now known to be non-trash carrying forms 
lacking tubercles and with unspecialized setae. The idea that 
hemerobiid larvae were trash carriers was wide-spread in the last 
century and for its time Hagen’s suggestion, though incorrect, was 
reasonable. I have seen several specimens of trash-carrying cole- 
opterous larvae from several amber collections, and it might seem 
possible that Hagen misidentified one of these as a neuropteran. 
The mouthparts of these beetle larvae, however, are small and 
typically coleopterous, whereas Hagen describes the jaws of his 
larva as “. . . etwa noch einmal so long als der Kopf, sabelformig 
mit scharfer Spitze, glatt und zahnlos, und zangenformig gestallt 
wie bei Hemerobius und Chrysopa.” Various species of Ascalaphidae, 
Myrmeleontidae, and Nymphidae are also known to construct dorsal 
trash packets, but the larvae of none of these families really have 
globular, strongly constructed tubercles and, of course, all have 
toothed mandibles. 
Hagen’s second larval specimen, designated by him simply as 
“Larva”, has been located in the portion of the Berendt collection 
now residing in the Museum of Humboldt University, Berlin. It 
is a member of the Psychopsidae, a family which at the time was 
unknown to Hagen in the larval stage. This specimen is redescribed 
below. 
In addition to these specimens, larvae, apparently of a myrme- 
leontoid facies, were mentioned on a number of occasions in the 
early literature dealing with the Baltic amber (Berendt, 1830, 
1845; Burmeister, 1832; Hope, 1834). Upon study, it emerges 
that only Berendt claimed to have actually seen such a specimen, 
