( 121 ) VII. On the genus Acentropus. By J. W. Dunning, M.A., F.L.S., &c. [Read 4th March, 1872.] I HAVE to announce the capture of Acentro2yus almost in the heart of London, about a furlong from the Regent's Park canal. Between nine and ten o'clock one evening, in the latter half of July, 1871, an insect attracted my attention, chiefly by the peculiarity of its flight round the lamp near which I was sitting ; in colour and general appeai-ance it was insigniflcant enough, and might have been a small Crarabus ; but it had not the weak and vacil-lating motion of a Gramhus, for it flew with decision and in circles, or rather semi-circles, alighting constantly on the table for a moment, then flitting ofl' to perform another round. When it sat for an instant, the horizontal and deltoid pose of the wings, and an indescribable sprawl of the legs, reminded me of Hydrocampa. I had not recognized the insect as Acentropus, and it was only on the following morning, when I had killed the specimeu, that I found out what it really was. But the living insect was certainly to my eye a moth, and it produced upon my mind the impression of a Cramboid Hydrocampa. In 1791, Olivier gave a short description of what is supposed to be our insect ', he placed it in his third section of the Order Neuroptera, and called it Phryganea nivea; at the same time he remarked, that the Phryganece form a link between the Phalwnw and other four-winged insects. Latreille followed Olivier, and apparently was acquainted with P. nlvea only from Olivier's desci-iption. In 1829, Stephens introduced into his ^Systematic Catalogue of British Insects,' the name " Acentria nivosa {Ph. nivea, Oliv. ?)" and placed it in the Neuroptera, amongst the Perlidce. In the same year, Curtis in his * Guide to the Arrangement of British Insects,' introduced the name Acentropus Garnonsii, as distinct from Acentria. And in 1833, Stephens, in the second edition of his 'Nomenclature,' gave Zancle llansoni as distinct from Acentria nivosa. But there was no description of any of these. In 1834, in vol. xi. of * British Entomology,' Curtis characterized the genus Acentroims, and on pi. 497 he TKANS. ENT. SOC. 1872. — PART II. (mAY.)
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