1944] 
Nallachius americanus 
183 
NOTES ON NALLACHIUS AMERICANUS (McL.) 
(DILARIME, NEUROPTERA) 
By George C. Steyskal 
Detroit, Michigan 
On July 8 and again on July 14, 1943, the writer took a single 
male of Nallachius americanus (McLachlan) on the leaves of a 
shrub a couple feet from a large long-dead tree standing in his 
neighbor’s yard in Detroit, Michigan. The July 14 specimen 
was sent to F. M. Carpenter, who has kindly confirmed the 
determination. On June 28, 1944, six females and fourteen 
males were taken around the same tree and on July 1, 1944, 
five more males, making a total of six females and twenty-one 
males. The males were found in 1944 hovering close to the 
trunk or clinging to it, at distances of four to as much as twenty 
feet from the ground. The females were not seen in flight but 
were taken with difficulty from the trunk at the edge of loose 
bark at heights of six to ten feet. All specimens were taken at 
dusk; none was seen during several midday visits to the tree. 
Inasmuch as Carpenter in his revision of the hemerobioid 
families of the Nearctic region (1940, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 
Sci. 74 (7) : 193-280) lists but two males and three females and 
since our additional material exhibits certain variations from 
the previously known material, the following notes are offered 
to assist in defining the range of variation in the species. 
The length of the fore wing varies in the males from 4 mm. 
to 5.5 mm. (allotype S , 4 mm.) and in the females from 5 mm. 
to 6 mm. (holotype 9 , 5 mm.). The larger specimens have the 
greater number of pectinations in the male antennae and the 
more extensive wing venation. 
The pectinations of the antennae of the males vary from seven 
to ten in number as follows, the minus sign indicating that the 
first (proximal) pectination is but one-half or one-third the 
length of the second one. One spm. with 7 pectinations, one 
with 8 — , 7 with 8, 5 with 9 — , 5 with 9, one with 10 — , and one 
with 10. 
The venation of the wings is rather uniform, but varies from 
