The Structure and Relationships of Oliarces (Neuroptera)

Somewhat more than forty years ago, Dr. John B. Smith, while traveling in California, collected a conspicuous neuropterous insect, which was subsequently described by Banks (1908) as Oliarces clara. Efforts to find additional individuals were unsuccessful for many years, but a second specimen has at last been secured. Mr. P. A. Adams, of the University of California, who received the insect from the collector and who has already published a note on its discovery (1950), kindly loaned me the new specimen for further study and for comparison with the type. I am indebted to him for this courtesy and for the opportunity of clarifying, to some extent, the systematic position of this remarkable insect.