Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/154

126 ther less than two thirds the length of the wings these three nervures unite and cease, other nervures radiating from them to the margins of the wing: in the genera Nymphes, Osmylus and Chrysopa, a principal nervure or double nervure extends from the base of each wing just below the costal margin, which it appears gradually to approach, till near the apex, where it follows the arcuate form of the wing, and gradually vanishes before reaching the extreme apex. Myrmeleon, Stilbopteryx and Ascalaphus follow the same type of neuration, which is worthy of notice, as making the discrepancy of Psychopsis in this respect of much greater importance. Independently of this difference, the neuration approaches that of Osmylus, and I incline to assign it the filiform antennae of that genus. The outline of the wings would not distinguish them from those of many of our commoner Geometrae; they are rounded at the tip and slightly produced at the anal angle; when at rest the wings are deflexed, and closely appressed to the sides of the body, as in Flata, to which genus, when in such a position, it bears a great although superficial resemblance, aided, in this individual, by the total loss of its antennae. The eyes are black; the head, thoracical segments and legs are yellow, they appear very similar to those of Osmylus: the abdomen is somewhat clavate, hairy and lead-coloured. The wings are nearly transparent, all the nervures being pale delicate yellow: the fore wings are slightly tinged with yellow, intermixed with tints of pale delicate brown, and are beautifully adorned with numerous oblique transverse markings, of a deep, clear, distinct brown; all of these, except the last pair, originate in the costal margin and trend towards the anal angle of the wing; counting from the base of the wing, the first of these markings form an elongate shapeless blotch, extending about a third the width of the wing; next follows a pair of lines not quite equalling in length the blotch previously described; then another pair of lines, twice as long as the preceding pair; then a third pair, equalling the second in length and enclosing a third abbreviated line; then a fourth pair shorter than the second and third; and lastly, a fifth pair, parallel with the outer margin, and reaching neither the costal nor anal margin: at the anal angle, on the extreme margin of the wing, are two black spots, immediately within these is a vague but bright ferruginous spot, and above this an elongate irregular mark of the same colour; these ferruginous markings serve to connect the black spots with the third pair of lines previously described, forming altogether a fascia across the wing at its greatest width; the inferior or abdominal margin of the wing has eleven very delicate, short, oblique, brown lines, which point towards the tip: