XX 



HEMEROBIIDES 



467 



The genus Sisyra forms for some Neuropterists the type of a 

 separate group called Sisyrina, though by others it is placed, as 

 we have said, with the Osmylina, though 

 it is destitute of ocelli. The larvae of at 

 least one species of this genus are aquatic, 

 and have been found in abundance living 

 in Spongilla (Epliydatici) flumatilis, a 

 fresh- water sponge ; when discovered 

 their nature was not at first recognised, 

 as they possess on each ventral segment 

 a pair of articulated appendages, look- 

 ing Like legs, but which are considered 

 to be more of the nature of gills. The 

 sucking-spears of this Insect are so 

 long and slender as to look like hairs ; 

 whether the little animal draws its 

 nutriment from the sponge, or merely 

 uses this latter as a place of shelter, 

 is not ascertained. 



4. Hemerobiina : a somewhat num- 

 erous group of small or more rarely FlG - 3 10.- A, Larva of Sisyra 



f J ftiscata, ventral aspect ; B, an 



moderate-sized Insects, with moniliform abdominal appendage. (After 

 antennae, no ocelli, a complex and 



comparatively regular system of wing-nervures ; the veinlets are 

 especially numerous at the margins, owing to the mode of forking 



FIG. 311. Larva of 

 Hemerobius sp. from 

 Kent. A, The larva 

 bare ; B, the same, 

 partially concealed 

 by the remains of 

 its victims, etc. ; a 

 portion of the cover- 

 ing has been removed 

 in order to show the 

 head. 



A B 



of the nervures there (Fig. 298, Drepcinepteryx plialaenoides). 

 The larvae of most of the species of which the habits are known 



