ORDER MECAPTERA. 



89 



the form of the side and breast pieces (pleu rites and ster- 

 nites), we have a striking approximation to the moths. The 

 abdomen is long and slender, composed of ten segments, 

 and in the male ending in a large forceps. The larva is 

 caterpillar-like, the head small, the feet short and small, 

 and there are eight pairs of abdominal feet, while the body 

 is adorned with button-like, bristle-bearing warts or spines. 

 The metamorphoses are complete, the pupae being somewhat 

 like those of the lowest moths, the limbs being free. 



Family Panorpidse. With the characters of the order. In Panorpa 

 the body of the male ends in a forceps. It has been known to 

 attack fishes, piercing their eyes with its beak. Its larva bores an 

 inch deep into moss-covered soil. The short, 4- join ted thoracic feet 

 resemble those of caterpillars; but the most striking point of resem- 

 blance to the latter is seen in the eight pairs of abdominal feet. Not 

 only the form of the body and legs, but also the arrangement and 

 shape of the button-like, bristle-bearing warts on the body recall the 

 general appearance of arctian caterpillars. Bittacus has a very long 

 slender body, with long legs, and the male abdomen bears no forceps. 

 The larva is somewhat like that of Panorpa, but is adorned with 



FIG. 81. Panorpa or Scorpion-fly, and larva. 



long scattered dorsal spines, and a lateral row of slender filaments; 

 each of the nine abdominal segments bears a pair of soft, 2-jointed 

 feet. While the Lepidoptera are supposed to have originated from 

 the same ancestors as the Trichoptera, it is a significant fact that the 

 cruciform larvse of the Mecaptera actually have 2-jointed legs to 

 each abdominal segment. This suggests that the Lepidoptera may 

 have originated from the same stem-form as the Mecaptera; though it 

 should be remarked that the moths themselves more closely resemble 

 the caddis-Hies. A very rare and singular form is Merope tuber 

 Newman, the male abdomen bearing a large forceps. The female 

 Boreus is wingless; in the male the wings are rudimentary. B. 

 nivoriundus Fitch has only been collected in the winter-time on 

 snow. The species are brassy brown, brassy black, or deep bronze 

 green. 



