NEUROPTERA. 



703 



Asia Minor (after 

 Selys). A the imago ; B its head seen from in front 

 and magnified. From Sharp. 



The oral orifice is closed, 



but the grooves communi- 

 cate with the alimentary 



canal, into which they con- 

 vey the juices of the victims. 



The stages between larva 



and imago are passed in 



cocoons made of sand and 



silk. There are no British 



representatives, but several 



species of Myrmeleon (Fig. 



447) live on the Continent. 



Other forms, e.g. Dendroleon, 



hunt their prey on foot. 



Palpares and Tomateres are 



large forms. 



Fam. 4. Ascaphalidae. 



Antennae long and clubbed. 



The apical cells of the wing 



are irregular. These insects 



hawk through the air like 



Dragon-flies, which they 



somewhat resemble, especi- FJQ ^^ Nemoptem Merfri . 



ally in the broad base to their 



posterior wings, but the an- 

 tennae serve to distinguish 



them at once. The eggs are laid on blades of grass, to which the imagos 



cling in dull weather. The carnivorous larvae have enormous man- 

 dibles and hunt their prey 

 under stones and leaves. A 

 cocoon is formed. Some 

 thirty genera are recognized 

 which mostly live in warm 

 climates. Ascalaphus is found 

 as far north as Paris. Heli- 

 comitus in Ceylon, Ulula on 

 St. Vincent Island. 



Fam. 5. Nemopteridae. 

 Head produced into a beak. 

 Antennae long, but not 

 clubbed. Hind wings much 

 longer and narrower than 

 fore-wings, twice as long as 

 body. A small group of 

 some thirty species of deli- 

 cate Insects not occurring 

 north of the Mediterranean 

 basin. The larva has an 

 extraordinarily long neck : 

 that of one species, probably 

 a Nemoptera (Fig. 448), lives 

 the sand in the tombs 



FIG. 449. a larva of Mantispa styriaca after hatching. 

 6 the same before the pupal stage (after F. Brauer). 

 c Mantispa pagana. 



in 



and pyramids of Egypt. 



