416 



NEUROPTERA 



verify this by actual observation, as the act of capture and trans- 

 fer is so very brief and is performed in the midst of a rapid 

 dash of. flight, but it seems more probable that the prey is first 

 struck by the legs than that the mouth is the primary instrument 

 of capture. The excessive mobility of the head permits the victim 

 to be instantly secured by the mouth, and the captured fly is 

 turned about by this and the front pair of legs, and is nipped 

 rapidly so that the wings and drier parts fall off; the more 

 juicy parts of the prey are speedily squeezed into a little ball, 

 which is then swallowed, or perhaps we should rather say that 

 the mouth closes on it, and submits it to further pressure for the 



extraction of the juices. We 

 have already noted that many of 

 these large and active dragon- 

 flies, particularly in the Libellu- 

 linae and Aeschninae, have their 

 eyes distinctly divided into two 

 parts, the facets in the lower 

 part of the eye being different 

 from those of the upper part. 

 Exner considers l that the upper 

 division is for the perception of 

 movement, the lower for the 

 perception of the form of rest- 

 ing objects. Plateau thinks 2 

 that the dragon -flies perceive 

 only movement, not form. 



The splendid aets of flight 



pressa, showing a part of the mechanism of the Allisopterid Odonata are 

 of flight, viz. some of the chitinous T i i i j_i j p 



ridges at base of the upper wing, ami accomplished by the aid of a 

 some of the insertions of the tendons complex arrangement of chitill- 

 of muscles. A, line of section through , . 



base of upper wing, the wing being OUS pieces at tne DaSCS OI tne 

 supposed to be directed backwards ; C, w i ngs (]?[<?. 263). In Insects 

 upper portion of mechanism of the . c 



lower wing ; 6, lever extending between With considerable powers 01 

 the pieces connected with the two wings. flight th hind j g re usua n y 

 (After von Lendenfeld. ) _ ' 



subordinate in functional im- 

 portance to the anterior, to which they are attached by a series 

 of hooks, or some other simple mechanism, on the wings. 



1 Physiol. facett. Aug. 1891, p. 115. 

 2 Bull. Ac. Belgique (3), xvi. 1888, No. 11, p. 31. 



