After excising the families usually treated as Pseudo-Neuroptera from this order, these insects can be defined as the “lace wings,” furnished with two pairs of delicate gauzy wings reticulated with a network of fine transverse and parallel veins forming a great number of more or less irregular cells. The head is furnished, with a few exceptions, with stout jaws adapted to their carnivorous habits; large eyes; and antennae of many different forms, sometimes short, thickened, or clubbed, but in others long, slender, and filiform. The legs, suited to their clinging habits when at rest, are generally slender, and the body more or less elongate.

Most of them undergo a complete metamorphosis; the active larvae are furnished with large sucking or biting jaws; in the terrestrial forms they live among foliage or on the ground, and feed upon aphids, mites, ants, &c., and when full grown pupate in regular cocoons. While some of the aquatic forms go through a pupal stage in cells in the mud or under stones, others, like the dragon flies, have no true pupal form, simply going through a series of moults, and changing from an aquatic life to an aerial one by crawling out of the water and emerging from the pupal case, leaving it attached to the water plant.

Sharp places the Neuroptera in eleven families, further divided up into a number of sub-families under five tribes. In excising the Pseudo-Neuroptera seven families remain, though the Hemerobiidae includes a number of sub-families that by some writers are ranked as families.

The Neuroptera are represented in Australia by many very handsome and curious insects, of which the dragon flies are probably the most typical and well known.

Family 1. Stone-flies.
PERLIDAE.

The Stone-flies are not an extensive group, and though the European and American forms have been studied, very little is known about our species. In England several species are much prized by fishermen as tempting bait for fly-fishing.

The perfect insects have oblong, flattened bodies of uniform width to the tip of the abdomen, terminating in a pair of long slender tails or setae. The head is long, provided with large prominent eyes, three ocelli, slender thread-like antennae, and weak mouth parts; the fore-wings are slightly longer than the hind ones, which are very broad and folded down the middle when closed. They are generally found about watercourses in early summer, and lay an immense number of eggs (5,000 to 6,000 some authorities state are laid by each female); these eggs are dropped on the surface of the water. The larvae are very like the perfect insects except that they have no wings; they are active carnivorous creatures living in the bottom of swift running streams, crawling under the stones, and feeding chiefly on the larvae of mayflies.

Only four or five species have been described from Australia; I had a number of specimens sent me from Hobart, Tasmania, the larvae of which were said to be damaging the woodwork down a well. It has been identified as Eusthenia spectabilis. This insect was named by Westwood, and is figured in Griffith’s “Animal Kingdom,” (page 348, plate 72). It measures about 2 inches across the outspread wings; its general colour is dark brown, with the fore wings lighter, mottled with brown at the base and the lower half dull red; the hind pair brighter red with the tips blackish. The head is flattened, with long slender many jointed antennae tapering to the tips. The thorax is slender, flattened on the upper surface; the legs stout; and the tip of the abdomen bears two slender jointed tails (setae). This insect is also found in Australia. A second species, Eusthenia thalia, is described from Tasmania by Newman; I have one from Gippsland Victoria probably a new species. Several species have been described by Walker (Brit. Mus. Catalogue, Neuroptera 1852) in the typical Genus Perla from Tasmania.

Members of the Genus Cupnia are often found upon the snow in Northern Europe.

Plate VIII.—NEUROPTERA.

Family Odonata.

Family Sialidae.

7. Chaulcodes guttatus (Walk.).

(Original photo. Burton.)

Family 2. Dragon Flies.
ODONATA.

Everyone has noticed dragon flies that sail and dart about over swamps and rivers, the embodiment of grace and beauty in flying creatures. In England and Australia they are popularly known as “horse-stingers,” a very misleading name, for they cannot sting, and if they frequent the vicinity of horses it is for the sake of the flies or gnats they can capture. In America the country folk know them under the still more peculiar name of “Devil’s Darning Needles,” while the French children, who recognise their beauty and dainty form, call them “demoiselles.” Westwood places the dragon flies in the family Libellulidae; but both Kirby and Sharp call them Odonata; the former again divides them into the Libellulidae and the Agrionidae, and the latter subdivides them into groups with the same characters, namely the Anisopteridae and Zygopteridae.

The members of the first group are those with the hind pair of wings slightly larger than the front pair, and the second with wings of equal size or the hind pair smaller. Specialists have further subdivided them into seven smaller sub-families containing about 300 genera.

Dragon flies are widely distributed over the world, but are most plentiful in the warmer zones; about 2,000 have been described from all parts of the world, of which 107 species are recorded from Australia; but as Billinghurst was able to collect 41 species in one circumscribed district in Victoria (Victorian Naturalist No. 1, 1900), systematic collecting would certainly add many more to our list.

In the early stages of their life dragon flies are aquatic; the female deposits her eggs on the foliage of water plants, sometimes dipping into the water to be sure they are submerged. The slender larvae with wing pads in place of the future wings have somewhat the form of the adults, and are carnivorous, feeding upon all kinds of smaller water insects.

The dragon flies form a very distinct division of the Neuroptera; every organ is beautifully adapted for their aerial life, their immense eyes giving them an outlook on all sides, while the slender cylindrical body does not impede their flight; and the great oar-shaped wings strengthened with many stout nervures enable them to twist and turn in the air with wonderful ease and rapidity.

The Libellulidae are thick-bodied dragon flies of medium size, and comprise a number of fine species. The larvae are short broad creatures with wide heads; they live in the mud on the bottom of ponds. Rhyothemus graphiptera belongs to a genus containing over 30 species ranging from Africa to China, and the Eastern Archipelago to the New Hebrides. It measures 2½ inches across the wings, which are yellowish brown, beautifully mottled with darker tints; the front pair are blotched at the base, a slender stripe in front running into the first of 2 irregular transverse bands about the centre and tip; in the hind pair the two apical bands have basal markings consisting of three small irregular blotches: it is found in the northern parts of N.S. Wales.

The Genus Diplax contains a number of more delicate, short-winged insects, of which Diplax rubra, a typical form, is common both along the rivers and in the open scrub, often quite a distance from water. It is a moderate-sized dragon fly, tinted with pale yellow at the base of the hind wings, and has a distinctive bright red body. Diplacodes (Diplax) bipunctata has much the same habits, and a wider range over the country; it is common about Sydney, and is slightly smaller than the previous species, and of a general yellow tint. Orthetrum nigrifrons is a more thickset dragon fly about 2 inches across the wings; the head and front of thorax are black, with the hind portion of the latter and body deep blue; it is a very distinctive species along the watercourses and in the open bush. Orthetrum villosovittatum is a slightly larger form found in Southern Queensland, with slightly clouded wings, blotched close to the body with yellowish brown: the head and thorax are brown, and the body is red.

The Aeschnidae contain the giants among the dragon flies: Petalura gigantea is our largest species, and varies much in different localities; most of ours on the Blue Mountains measure about 5 inches across the wings, but Tillyard captured them at Cairns N.Q. 6½ inches. It is a very robust insect of a dull brown tint, with a single, broad, pale stripe on the sides of the large square thorax, and when viewed from the side seems to have the abdomen attached to the under-side of the thorax. The pterastigma of the wing is long.

Hemianax papuensis is typical of one of our large species, often flying in numbers about Sydney hawking for gnats high up in the air before a storm. It measures 4 inches across the wings, which have a slight smoky tint.

Aeschna brevistyla is about the same size as the previous species, but the wings are clear, and the abdominal segments are marked with two angulated white blotches, one on either side of the dorsal stripe. The larvae are curious, elongate, oval creatures, with large heads, living in the mud at the bottom of stagnant ponds and are common about Sydney.

The Agrionidae are the delicate slender-bodied dragon flies with oar-shaped wings, and narrow heads with the eyes standing out on either side. Lestes analis is our common type of the large genus; it is of the usual slender form, with the body nearly as long as the expanse of wings, and is of a general reddish brown colour. Synlestes weyersii is a very beautiful slender creature nearly 3 inches across the wings, and over 2 inches from the front of the head to the tip of the body. It has transparent wings with an oval whitish pterastigma toward the tips, and the whole head and body is deep rich metallic green. It flies in a very graceful manner up and down the edges of the watercourses, resting every now and then on a reed or overhanging twig, and is very easily captured. Ischnura heterosticta is our tiny, little, banded, blue and brown dragon fly, with the female of a more sombre brown tint: Tillyard has recorded two forms of females in this species, one taking on the garb of the bright-coloured male.

Ischnura delicata, very similar in size and form, has the basal two-thirds of the abdomen red and the apical portion blue. The larvae of both these species are common in the ponds about Sydney in the early summer. Tillyard (Pro. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 1905) has recently added three new species of the Genus Austrogomphus collected in the Cairns district N. Queensland.

Family 3. May-flies.
EPHEMERIDAE.

These delicate gauze-winged insects were named Ephemera from the old idea that their life as perfect insects lasted only for a day; they were born in the morning and died at the fall of day. Though their span of life is short, as they possess only rudimentary mouths incapable of absorbing food, and only live a short time after the eggs are laid, it is generally a matter of a few days.

They have large prominent eyes; three ocelli; and minute antennae consisting of two thickened joints surmounted with a needle-like hair or bristle: the prothorax is small, the middle portion large; and the somewhat small body, generally composed of ten segments, is provided with a slender articulated hair-like tail on either side. The wings are broadest at the base, rounded at the extremities, with the hind pair small, in some genera the hind pair absent. The larvae live in burrows in the mud at the bottom of ponds or watercourses, and when full grown climb up the stalks of grass or plants and cast their pupal coverings.

Most of our species are only found in odd pairs, and do not assemble in swarms as they sometimes do in England; but in 1885, in the Royal Geographical Society’s Exploring Expedition in New Guinea, when ascending the Fly River we met with great clouds of the large white Mayfly, Palingenia papuana, flying along over the surface of the water just as described by D’Albertis in his work on New Guinea; specimens I collected are now in the Australian Museum.

The commonest species about Sydney is Atalophlebia australasica, a small chocolate brown insect marked with black; the wings are vitreous with black markings on the veins, the front margin tinged with umber brown on the cross veins. It was described by Pictet in his “Natural History Neuroptera” (1843–45): Walker has described another from Tasmania: Eaton three more from different parts of the mainland: and Burmeister one in his “Handbook of Entomology” as far back as 1839. The members of this genus have a wide range from South America through Africa, Japan, and Ceylon. A single species of the Genus Coloburiscus has been described from Melbourne.

The chief work on these insects is Eaton’s “Revisional Monograph of Recent Ephemeridae or May-flies,” Parts I.-V. (Transactions of the Linnean Society 1883–87;) in this work he subdivides them into three groups containing 55 genera and 270 species.

Family 4. Alder Flies and Snake Flies.
SIALIDAE:

This small division contains two groups that Westwood treated as two distinct families, the Sialidae and the Raphidae; but Sharp points out, that in general structure and habits they are very closely related to each other,—the latter chiefly differing from the former in the remarkable elongation of the prothorax, and he thus only ranks them as sub-families.

The Alder Flies have two pairs of broad wings, wide at the base, the hind pair slightly smaller and capable of being folded behind; they are all traversed by numerous veins forming irregular cells. They are slow in their movements, and are to be found clinging to bushes in the vicinity of water. Our commonest species is the Chauliodes guttatus, described by Walker; it is a large, dull brown insect with an elongated thorax and body; the head is furnished with long, slender, annulated antennae, large prominent eyes on the sides, and three ocelli on the summit. The wings are semiopaque, the fore pair finely spotted with black, thickest on the front margin; the broader hind pair are only lightly spotted at the extreme tip, with from 4 to 5 larger rounded spots about the centre. It measures over 3 inches across the outspread wings, and 1¼ inches from the head to the tip of the abdomen; it has a wide range from Victoria to Queensland.

The larvae are remarkable for having fringed filaments on the sides of the abdomen; they crawl about in the mud or among the weeds in water-holes, and are carnivorous, feeding upon other aquatic insects; when ready to transform, the pupae come out of the water and crawl under stones, or sometimes under the loose bark on tree trunks.

The Snake Flies are curious looking creatures with elongated necks, and the female is provided with a very curious, long, curved ovipositor. They are found under bark on tree trunks, both in the perfect and larval state; they are unknown in Australia, but Howard states that an attempt was made some years ago to send living Raphidians from California to destroy codlin moth grubs, but that nothing has been heard of them since.

Family 5. Scorpion Flies.
PANORPIDAE.

These insects have the head turned down in front with the mouth parts forming an elongate beak; large projecting eyes; and slender antennae. The prothorax forms a slender neck to the larger mesothorax; the wings are narrow and somewhat oar-shaped, traversed with a network of veins; the legs are long and slender, except the hind pair, which are thickened on the thighs and stoutly spined; the tarsi are large and coated with a sticky membrane, which assists it in catching flies.

At first sight many of them might be taken for crane-flies of somewhat clumsy build; in the European Panorpa the males are furnished with a peculiar anal appendage from which they take the popular name of Scorpion Flies. Members of the Genus Boreus are wingless and resemble tiny grasshoppers; in America they are often found on snow. The family is represented in Australia by Bittacus australis, which has a wide range from Tasmania to Queensland, and is very abundant in the early summer, hanging about the leptospermum and ti-tree bushes. It rests among the foliage, with the large hind legs hanging loosely down below but ready to strike out the moment an incautious fly comes within range. The long flexible tarsi fold round the captive with the stout spines transfixing it, while the Bitticus draws its leg round under the head so that it can press its sharp beak into the victim and suck up its blood. Its general colour is reddish brown marked with black; the wings are clouded, narrow, rounded at the tips, and reticulated with fine nervures. Nothing is known about the earlier stages in the life-history of this insect, but specimens in captivity laid a number of flattened bun-shaped eggs which did not hatch out.

Plate IX.—NEUROPTERA.

Family Hemerobiidae.

Family Myrmeleonidae.

Family Mantispidae.

3. Mantispa strigodes (Westwood).

(Original photo. Burton.)

Family 6. Ant-lions and Lace-wings.
HEMEROBIIDAE.

This interesting division of the Neuroptera comprises a number of smaller groups, ranked by some entomologists as families, but now generally regarded as sub-families. Westwood divided them into two families, the first containing the true ant-lions; both Kirby and Sharp treat them as one, but the latter places them in seven well defined sub-families.

They come naturally together from the fact that all the larvae are provided with large, curved, hollow, sucking jaws, and are carnivorous in their habits, while the perfect insects have simple biting jaws. They all have, in the perfect state, long slender bodies, provided with two pairs of finely reticulated wings, folded over each other when at rest; the head is short, with large projecting eyes; ocelli generally wanting; and the antennae are composed of many short annular joints.

The Myrmeleonides are the true ant-lions, whose larvae in many species construct funnel shaped pits in soft sandy soil an inch or two in depth, at the bottom of which, buried in the loose soil, with only the tip of their large jaws visible, they lie in wait for any ant or other small insect that may happen to slip over the edge and tumble to the bottom, where it is immediately seized in the ant-lion’s powerful jaws and devoured; when however, as often happens, the trapped visitor manages to regain its footing and nearly succeeds in clambering out, the ant-lion presses its head downward like a spade and throws a quantity of sand right at its prey, generally bringing its quarry within reach again. It generally excavates its pit under the shelter of a log or rock so that it is protected from the rain, and when full grown pupates at the bottom of its shaft. The larva is a short thickset little brown creature covered with tufts of short stout bristles; the head is broad and rounded behind, attached to the heart-shaped body by a neck-like thorax. They are easily captured by slipping a knife blade under them and throwing them out when they are intent on catching a struggling ant. In captivity they are easily kept in a saucer full of sand, and have the power of going for weeks without food; when placed on a smooth surface they always arch their heads and crawl backwards.

Most of our described species belong to the Genus Glenurus, all slender elongated insects resting with their long narrow wings folded over their backs against a twig or grass stem, and when disturbed flitting away in a very awkward manner; they are very easily captured.

Glenurus pulchellus is the commonest species about the coast, with a wing expanse of about 2½ inches; its general colour is chocolate brown, mottled and marbled with lighter tints; the fore wings are speckled with black; the apical portion of the hind pair deeply blotched with chestnut brown, encircling a white patch, with a second smaller one nearer the extremity. Glenurus falsus is a shade smaller; the fore wings darker; and a single dark patch on the hind wings. Glenurus striola is a slightly larger species with semitransparent wings, marked on the posterior margin of the hind pair with a narrow light brown stripe. I found this species very plentiful in some swampy flats near Brisbane, Q., in October, where they were resting on the rushes. Glenurus fundatus is our largest species, often measuring up to 4 inches across the wings, and is of a general uniform mottled grey tint spotted with brown; it is common along the coast in North Queensland. Glenurus circuiter is easily recognised from all the others by the shape of the fore wings, which are broadened to the tips, cut out behind at the extremities, and both pairs are irregularly blotched and spotted dark brown, giving it a very handsome appearance. Glenurus erythrocephalus has semitransparent wings, elongate and rounded at the tips, the fore pair thickly covered with spots and blotches of dark brown, the hind pair usually only marked with three spots, but the spotting is very irregular and variable. It comes from the more northern parts of N.S. Wales and Queensland.

The Ascalaphides are all moderate-sized, clear-winged insects with a stigma toward the tip, and curious long slender antennae clubbed at the tips; they might be likened to dragon-flies with butterflies’ heads. Suphalasca sabulosa measures about 2½ inches across the wings; the head and thorax are fringed with fine hairs, the stigma on the wings black. It is generally found on bush land clinging to a grass stalk or twig, with the wings folded down, and the slender body sticking out at right angles. I have found the larvae living under the dry bark attached to dead tree trunks, their short hairy bodies covered with tufts of stout bristles, their large jaws pointing upward; and from their situation they probably capture the large sugar ants. In captivity they would remain for days resting against the side of the box without any movement, and lived for several months without taking any food, and finally formed a round cocoon.

The female places her eggs in a double row along the edge of a blade of grass, and the young ones, when they hatch out, sit in the bottom of the eggshell, all head and jaws, waiting for something to turn up, and must often undergo long fasts.

Stibopteryx costalis is a stout bodied insect with a wing expanse of 3 inches, a large, dragon-fly-like head, and narrow rounded wings banded with parallel bands of chocolate brown. It ranges from Sydney right round Australia.

The Nemopterides are a very curious group of lace-wings, which have the hind pair of wings produced into slender or clubbed appendages of most peculiar form. Kirby (Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1900) has listed all the known species from all parts of the world, 33 species in 7 genera.

Chasmoptera hutti, described by Westwood from Western Australia, has a wing expanse of 1½ inches, and the hind pair are produced into a spoon-shaped tail. Croce attenuata is a smaller, dull coloured, brown insect, with the fore wings like those of a mayfly, and the hind pair forming a pair of antennae-like processes longer than the body. It was taken by my correspondent, Mrs. Black, round a lamp, and comes from North Queensland. It is described by me in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society 1904.

The Mantispides are lace-wings that in general form, imitate the orthopterous mantis; with the same elongate neck, spined fore legs and broad head, but the structure of the wings soon shows its affinity to the lace-wings. We have some very fine species in Australia, which are usually found hiding among the foliage of trees, and are generally captured when beating the bush for beetles. Nothing is known about the earlier stages of any of our species, but Brauer studied the larval and pupal forms of the European Mantispa, and found that the eggs were stalked; the larvae are long slender creatures with large jaws. Westwood has figured and described a number of our species (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1852).

Mantispa biseriata, one of our largest species, measures up to 2½ inches across the outspread wings. Its general colour is dull reddish brown; the wings are mottled with very fine black dots, and the stigma on the fore wing forms a dull red blotch. It has a wide range from Victoria to North Queensland. Mantispa strigipes is a smaller darker species, with no distinct stigma but a stripe of dull red along the front margin of both pairs of wings, thickest toward the extremities. It ranges over Victoria and N.S. Wales.

The Hemerobiides are well represented in Australia by some very beautiful insects, which when at rest are recognised by the way in which their wings are folded against each other, forming a ridge above the back; the antennae, generally long, consist of a number of short annular joints. The eggs are laid upon the food plant; the larvae feed upon small insects.

Nymphes myrmeleonides, described and figured by Leach in 1814, has a somewhat robust body, long slender antennae and narrow head; the wings, which have an expanse of 3 inches, are large, of equal size, and semitransparent, except the tips, which are ornamented with an elongate brownish blotch enclosing an irregular white spot in the centre. It is a very ungainly insect when flying, with its large oar-shaped shining wings; it has a very wide range along the eastern coast. The larvae live under the shelter of logs hiding among the dust and dirt with only their jaws projecting; specimens obtained near Armidale, N.S.W., lived for some time in captivity, forming the usual spherical parchment-like pupal case, from which the insect emerged about a month later.

The Genus Psychopsis was formed by Newman in 1840 (Newman’s Entomologist p. 415) to contain the curious creamy white moth-like insect Psychopsis mimica. It has broad rounded wings covered with fine hairy veins shading from buff to grey or creamy white, spotted with red on the base of the fore wings and a dull brown spot on the centre of the hind pair; the head is turned down in front when resting. It measures about 1½ inches across the outspread wings and is found from South Australia to Queensland. I figured and described all our known species (Notes on the Genus Psychopsis Newman, with descriptions of new species) in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society N.S.W. 1903, where I added two new species. Psychopsis coelivagus is our smallest species, measuring 1 inch across the outspread wings, which are creamy white thickly mottled with a central band of metallic coppery brown; it comes from S. Queensland.

Psychopsis illidgi is one of the most remarkable looking of all our Neuroptera, with its large rounded buff fore wings with confluent ochreous yellow markings crossing them, and the usual dull spot in the centre of the smaller hind wings. It measures about 2¾ inches across the wings, and is a rare insect. Illidge has taken several specimens that came flying in to the light at night on the top of Mount Tambourina in South Queensland.

Psychopsis insolens and P. meyricki are both dull coloured smaller insects, the first found about Sydney and Brisbane, the latter on the top of Mount Kosciusko, resting on the rocks.

The eggs are not stalked but are attached to the food plant; the young elongated larva, furnished with stout projecting jaws, crawls upon the foliage and feeds upon aphids. This Genus was considered peculiar to Australia, until in the last few years two species have been described from Africa and a third from Burmah.

The curious black mottled lace-wing, Porismus strigatus, has a narrow red head furnished with long slender antennae and large rounded eyes; the front portion of the thorax forms a regular neck. The narrow elongate black wings, blotched and tipped with pale yellow shading into white, are folded over the back forming a ridge when at rest on a tree trunk. They are sometimes met with about Sydney, and are common in New England toward the end of summer. I found larvae and eggs under logs in that district which I believe to be those of this insect; the former were stalked and deposited in a narrow semicircle attached to each other; the larvae, of the usual tick-shaped form, covered themselves over with bits of burnt ashes, and clung to the surface of the log, where they easily escaped notice with their protective covering.

The Genus Osmylus contains a number of slender insects with longer, semitransparent, spotted, brown wings, and fine antennae clothed with short hairs. The larvae, active little creatures, feed about among the leaves destroying aphids. Osmylus tenui measures about 1¼ inches across the outspread wings, is of the usual dull brown tint, and is found in Victoria.

In the Genus Drepanopteryx the fore wings are short, broad, rounded in front at the shoulders, and arcuate on the hind margin; the hind pair are rounded, semitransparent, with a darker costal margin; when resting upon a twig they tuck the head down under the thorax, and turn the wings upward, almost standing on their heads; they could be easily passed over from their resemblance to a brown leaf.

Drepanopteryx binocula and D. instabilis are found in N.S. Wales and Victoria; the first has dark fore wings and measures about ¾ of an inch; the second is somewhat smaller and lighter coloured.

The Chrysophides comprise the lace wings known as “Ruby Eyes” from their rich metallic tint, or “Aphis Lions” on account of the voracious habits of their larvae. They hide among the foliage in the day time, and in summer often come buzzing round the lamp, several species giving out a most objectionable smell when handled. They are generally slender-bodied green or yellow insects with large delicate glassy wings, folded over the back. They attach their eggs to the foliage on long slender stalks, probably a means of protection against other larvae that might otherwise find and devour them. The larvae are active little creatures with large heads furnished with scythe-shaped jaws; their rounded backs are covered with short stiff hairs, by means of which they hold bits of dirt, sand, or wood, with which they cover themselves when feeding upon the aphids or scale. If when in captivity these bits are brushed off they run round and replace them bit by bit; pushing the bits into the jaws with their fore legs, then turning their heads backward, they drop each bit upon their backs, repeating the operation until they are again completely covered. When full-grown they spin a white hemispherical cocoon composed of fine white threads and the longer hairs of the body, from which in summer the perfect insects will emerge in a fortnight.

The Green Lace Wing, Chrysopa ramburi, is our common orchard friend; and where plentiful they soon clean the trees of aphid and scale insects. Its general colour is bright green fading into yellow after death; the large golden eyes are so bright that they can be seen through the cocoon some time before it emerges. The Brown Lace Wing, Micromus australis, is common among dead bushes, and also in summer in orange orchards; it is much smaller than the last, only slightly over ¼ of an inch across the expanded wings; is of a general light brown colour mottled all over the wings with darker tints. The broad head is furnished with large bronzy eyes, and slender hairy antennae composed of 44 very short annular joints. Both the slender, brown, ferret-like larvae and the perfect insects are very active little creatures, always on the move. This species was described by me in the Agricultural Gazette N.S. Wales, 1904.

Family 7. Caddis Flies.
TRICHOPTERA.

The larval forms of these interesting little creatures are common in our creeks and water-holes, encased in their cocoons or sacks formed of silken strands covered with bits of sticks, leaves, sand or small stones; they may be often noticed floating on the surface or crawling about under the water among the weeds and mud. These are protective coverings, for though the head and front of the thorax, that are projected in front when the larva is moving along, are hard and leathery, the abdominal segments are covered with a thin integument, and would soon fall a prey to the many carnivorous water insects in the ponds if it were not for their case-bearing habits. These cases, unlike those of the terrestrial case moths, are open at both ends, so that the water can flow right through when the creature is crawling about.

They are known in England as “water moths,” or “caddis-flies,” and are much sought for by anglers as bait for fly-fishing. The perfect insects have two pairs of membranous wings with fewer cross veins than other members of the Neuroptera; the hind pair are broadest and folded when at rest; most of them are clothed with fine hairs instead of scales. The head is small, with very long, slender, thread-like antennae composed of many short indistinct joints, and the biting mouth is rudimentary; the prothorax is short, with an elongate body rounded at the extremity; and the legs are well developed, and more or less provided with spines. The female deposits her eggs, enveloped in a gelatinous mass, in the water, often carrying them about with her attached to the tip of the abdomen for some time before they are dropped.

Some of the smaller species are so wonderfully like small tinead moths, that it takes an experienced eye, aided with a good lens, to pick them out of a box when mixed up with small microlepidoptera; and from their delicate form and small size most of my specimens have not been taken as caddis-flies, but obtained from the leavings of insect boxes of moth collectors.

Between the years 1874–80 McLachlan published his fine “Monograph of the European Trichoptera,” illustrated with a great number of very fine drawings; over 500 species are identified and described in this work. According to Howard, about 150 species have been described from North America.

McLachlan treats them as an Order in his work, dividing them into a number of families, chiefly based upon the number of spines on the legs, the joints of the palpi, and the ocelli.

Judging from my own collection of caddis-flies I should think that Australia is rich in species, but they are a much neglected family and I do not know of a single named specimen in any of our Museum collections.

In the British Museum Catalogue of Neuroptera published in 1852, Walker gives only four species from Tasmania and Australia: Leptocerus magnus and L. oppositus, which he describes from Tasmania, and Plectrotarsus gravenhorsti, described by Koller from Australia; the latter measures nearly an inch across the wings, and ⅓ of an inch in the body, and is of a general yellow tint, thickly clothed with yellow and black hairs; the fore wings are bluish black marked with white, yellow at the base and along the fore border; the hind wings are yellow but blackish toward the tips.

Monopseudopsis inscriptus, described by Walker, is a larger fly, of a general black colour, with pale wings spotted with yellow, the hind pair clouded. The locality of this species is given as Australia.