Abstract
FATHER NAVAS is well known as a student of the taxonomy of that miscellaneous assemblage of insects formerly included in the old Linnean order of the Neuroptera. In the monograph before us he deals with the curious and remarkable “snake-flies.” Their position in any scheme of classification has long been a difficulty, and opinions thereon are very diverse. Father Navas prefers to follow Handlirsch and to regard them as constituting an order of their own—the Raphidioptera. Others merge them along with the “alder-flies” (Sialidæ) to form the order Megaloptera, while a third alternative is that followed by some entomologists of combining the Megaloptera with the Plannipennia into a single order, Neuroptera. We are inclined to follow the intermediate course, as there is little doubt that the Raphidiidæ have their nearest allies in the Sialidæ, although they are more highly specialised than the latter.
Monografia de l'Ordre dels Rafidiòpters (Ins.).
By R. P. Llongí Navas, S.J. (Publicacions de l'Institut de Ciències.) Pp. 93. (Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 1918.)
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I., A. Monografia de l'Ordre dels Rafidiòpters (Ins.). Nature 106, 239 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/106239b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/106239b0