tralian species, all very similar in colouration and markings to the New Zealand species. I cannot make out to my satisfaction if Dr. Kriechbaumer has described Mr. Kirby's species, nor can I identify with any of them an Australian species in my own collection, this species showing considerable variation. The publication of Dr. Kriechbaumer's paper only affects the generic name, Mr. Kirby's specific name "semipunctata being anterior by six years to the publication of the paper in which the German author described Lissopimpla. The name of the New Zealand species will therefore be Lissopimpla semipunctata, Kirby.

Captain Hutton informs me that his belief is that the species has been introduced into New Zealand from Australia. The evidence undoubtedly is that it was rare in New Zealand thirty years ago, while now it is not at all rare. At Greymouth the late Mr. Richard Helms took it commonly. It is probably, judging from its long ovipositor, a parasite on some wood-feeding insect. It varies considerably in size, as do other Pimplide which feed on wood-feeding insects.

The genus is, up to now at least, not known outside the Australian zoological region.

ART. VII.-Notes on some New Zealand Orthoptera.
By Captain F. W. HUTTON, F.R.S.

[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 20th August, 1899.]

Lissotrachelus maoricus, Walker, Cat. Dermap. Salt. in Brit. Museum, p. 74 (Scleropterus).

I found this species not uncommon at Whangarei, among grass. It is related to L. ater of Borneo, but differs not only in specific characters but in others which might be considered as generic.

The antennæ are unicolor and not moniliform; the third joint of the palpus is clavate; the ovipositor is straight, and the metatarsus of the hind legs has a pair of apical spines as long as those of the tibia. The fore tibiæ are without auditory pits, and the lateral lobes of the pronotum are about as deep as long.

The following are additions to Walker's description: In both the male and the female the elytra are abbreviated, not reaching the end of the abdomen. They have seven longi

tudinal nervures, without any transverse branches. The ovipositor is about the length of the cerci; it is slender, and curved upwards. The first joint (metatarsus) of the posterior tarsus has a pair of long apical spines.

Length, 7 mm.; pronotum, 14 mm. ; posterior femur, 5 mm.; ovipositor, 14 mm.

Gryllodes maorius, Saussure, Melange Orthop., p. 377.

This species is put down to New Zealand by Saussure on the evidence of a specimen in the Berlin Museum. I have never seen it. The following is Saussure's description: "Reddish-fuscous, with grey tomentum; head fuscous, with a yellowish transverse band above the antennæ; lobes of the pronotum washed with testaceous. Elytra much shortened, covering the first abdominal segment, contiguous at their bases. Ovipositor shorter than the hind femora, the valves rather depressed, slightly acute. Mediastinal vein unbranched. Head globose, moderately broad between the antennæ. Pronotum rather flat above.

"Length, 13.5 mm. ; pronotum, 2.4 mm.; hind femur, 8 mm.; ovipositor, 7 mm.; elytra, 3 mm. Width of pronotum, 7 mm.'

The genus Gryllodes differs from Gryllus in having a narrower front between the antennæ. The auditory pit on the inner side of the fore tibia is generally absent. The mediastinal vein of the elytra is unbranched in the female, and singly branched in the male; the dorsal field of the female is longitudinally veined. In Gryllus the mediastinal vein has, generally, several branches, and the dorsal field of the female is, generally, rhomboidly reticulated.

Hemideina parva, Buller, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxvii., 147 (Deinacrida).

I have examined the type of this species and find it very distinct, but it undoubtedly belongs to the genus Hemideina.

The anterior femur has no apical spines. The middle femur has an apical spine on the inner side, as also has the posterior femur, and the latter is armed below with eight strong teeth in the outer and seven in the inner row. The hind tibiæ above have five spines in the inner and four in the outer row. The middle tibia has two spines on the upper side, while below there are three in each row. The fore tibia, has no spines above, and below there are four in each row. The pronotum is strongly roughened, the meso- and meta-nota slightly so. The abdominal terga are smooth; the second, as well as those following, is emarginate.

The two spines on the upper surface of the middle tibia place this species in a separate group from the others.

Hemideina broughi, Buller, Trans. N.Z. Inst., xxviii., 324 (Deinacrida).

An examination of the type in the Colonial Museum, at Wellington, showed me that it had very distinct apical spines on the middle and posterior femora, and that it is identical with my H. ricta. I was misled by Sir W. Buller's statement, "The four anterior femora free from spines."

Pleioplectron cavernæ, sp. nov. Pachyrhamma edwardsii, Brunner, Mon. Stenopelmatidæ, p. 58, not H. edwardsii, Scudder.

Joints of the antennæ cylindrical in both sexes. Fore and middle femora unarmed below; hind femora with five to seven spines below on the inner side and two minute ones on the outer in the male, but only four on the inner side and none on the outer in the female. Fore and middle tibiæ with three spines in each row. Hind tibiæ with from twenty-five to thirty spines in the outer, and twenty-two to twenty-eight in the inner row, small but regular, some of the proximal ones very minute. Subgenital plate of the male with a lanceolate projection between the bases of the styles; not keeled.

Length of pronotum, ♂ 6 mm., 5 min.; of thorax, ♂ 13 mm., 12 mm.; of abdomen, ♂ 20 mm., 16 mm.; of fore tibia, ♂ 14 mm., ? 11 mm.; of hind tibia, ♂ 34 mm., 20 mm.; of hind femur, ♂ 27 mm., ? 18 mm.; of antennæ, ♂ 93 mm., ? 55 mm..

Collected by Mr. R. M. Laing in a small cave Karapiti fumarole, Taupo.

near the Colour brown, spotted with yellowish-brown. Legs yellowish-brown, the femora banded with brown. The colours are variable, no two specimens having the same markings.

This species is easily distinguished from the others belonging to the genus by the greater number of spines on the lower surface of the hind femur. Described from four males and two females.

The type of Pachyrhamma is by description Pleioplectron caverna, but by figure it is Pachyrhamma fascifer; consequently, I suppose that I am at liberty to select one or the other. I take the figure of P. fascifer (= nova-zealandia) as the type, for to do otherwise would entail the making of a new generic term for it.

ART. VIII.-Note on Paryphanta lignaria.

By Captain F. W. HUTTON, F.R.S.

[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 20th August,

1899.] Plate II.

SIR WALTER BULLER has kindly allowed me to photograph a perfect shell of this species which was obtained on Mount Rochfort, near Westport, and to add to the description given in the "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," vol. xx., p. 43. The greatest diameter is about 2 in. There are five and a half whorls in the specimen, and the angle of spire is 125°. The whole shell is of a yellowish-brown or luteous colour, the brown bands being obsolete. The first whorl is pale, the following ones are darker in colour. The umbilicus is the same as in P. hochstetteri. The aperture is transverse, the columella descending more than in the adult P. hochstetteri, but not so much as in the young of the same species. The peristome is thin, the upper margin oblique, slightly undulated near the suture.

The figures (Plate II.) are rather less than natural size; the lower one is slightly canted to get the light into the umbilicus, so that it does not show the correct outline at the base. This is seen in the upper figure. I have compared this specimen with photographs of the types of Paryphanta gilliesii kindly sent to the Museum by Mr. E. A. Smith, and I find that that species has a much larger umbilicus than P. lignaria, besides being flatter.

ART. IX.-The Tipulidæ, or Crane-flies, of New Zealand. By Captain F. W. HUTTON, F.R.S.

[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 1st November, 1899.]

Plates III. and IV.

THIS paper is founded on Mr. G. V. Hudson's collection, which he kindly sent me to describe. As it raises the list of our Tipulida from nineteen to forty-four species, the collection must be considered a very good one, and I hope that I shall be found to have given a fairly good account of it. My part, however, has been rendered comparatively easy by Mr.

Skuse's papers on the Australian Tipulidæ, in the "Proceedings of the Linnæan Society of New South Wales" for 1889 and 1890, and by Baron Osten-Sacken's "Studies," which he was good enough to send me.

All the New Zealand species of Tipulida as yet described are endemic, while all the genera except two-Tinemyia and Tanyderus-are found in Australia, and it is probable that these two will be found there in due course. Tanyderus is found in Chili and Amboina; Macromastix in Australia and Chili; Gynoplistia is limited to Australia, New Guinea, and Celebes; and Cerozodia to Western Australia. The other twelve genera have a wide distribution.

Family TIPULIDÆ.

Legs very long and slender. The head prolonged forwards into a rostrum, which is often provided with a sharppointed nasus. Ocelli nearly always absent. Mesonotum generally with a V-shaped transverse suture. The basal cells. of the wings elongated, almost always reaching beyond the middle of the wing; a discal cell in most of the genera. Ovipositor generally with two pairs of horny pointed valves.

The tip of the auxiliary vein turns backwards and joins the first longitudinal; sometimes it is blended with the first longitudinal, and therefore apparently absent. No subcostal cross-vein. The first longitudinal ends in the second, and is connected near its tip to the costa by a cross-vein. Last joint of the palpi long and flagelliform, generally longer than the other three taken together.

Genus DOLICHOPEZA, Curtis (1825).

"Anterior branch of the second longitudinal vein entirely wanting, consequently there is no rhomboid cell. Præfurca extremely short, often almost vertical. Discal cell wanting;