Redescription of Spiloconis Picticornis Banks (Neuroptera: Coniopterygidae)

With’in the past two years several lots o.f specimens of Spiloconis picticornis Banks have been sent to me from he Department of Bi.o.logical Control at the Citrus. Experiment Station, California. Some of these were secured on Hong Kong, China, by Dr. S. Flanders; but most of them were reared at the Citrus Experiment Station from stock obtained on Hong Kong. This extensive series, of specimens has made possible the preparation of a more detailed description of the species than .could be achieved from the unique female type on which the species wa,s originally based. I am indebted to M. E. Badgley, C. A. Fleschner, and J. C. Hall, all f the Citrus Experiment Station, for providing me with specimens used in this study. An account of the biology of picticornis by these investigators follows in the present i,ss,ue of Psyche; it is. a significant account, since little is kn.own about the biology of the coniopterygids in general and nothing at all has previously been known about the life his.tory of any species o.f Spiloconis. The genus Spiloconis was erected by Enderlein in 1907, within the subfamily Aleuropteryginae, to include two species,. One of these, sexguttata Enderlein (genotype), was known only from Japan, though Enderlein later (1908) recorded it fro.m Formosa as well; the other was maculata Enderlein, fro.m New South Wales, originally described (1906) in Helicoconis. A third species, interrupta, was described fro.m Mindanao (Philippines) by Banks, in 1937. A fourth species, picticornis, was described from Hainan, by the same author, in 1939. Finally, Banks (1939) trans-