384 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



dragonfly, neurobasis chinensis, the lower wings of which are coloured 



emerald green shading off into brown. 



Fam. V. Ephemeridse.— May-flies. 

 Delicate insects with short antenna?, four membranous wings, the 

 hinder pair smaller than the front ones. The adult can be easily 

 distinguished by the possession of two or three very elongate slender 

 tails terminating the end of the body. The earlier stages of the life 

 are passed in water, the larvse consequently differing greatly from the 

 adult. Fig. 30a shows the May-fly Ephemera remensa ; whilst b shows 



a much enlarged aquatic 

 larvae with six pairs of 

 tracheal gills on its sides. 

 The May-flies are not 

 of economic importance. 

 The appearance of the 

 adult in English trout 

 streams is eagerly looked 

 for by the keen fisher- 

 man, and the insect 

 would appear to be equal- 

 ly abundant and sought 

 after as an article of diet 

 by the fish of some, at 

 any rate, of the Indian 

 rivers and streams. The 

 study and working out 

 of the life-history of the Indian species would not unlikely well repay 

 the ardent fisherman in this country. 



Fig. SO — The common May-fly Ephemera remen- 

 sa; 6, aquatic larva of a May -fly 

 showing the six pairs of aquatic 

 giJls. 



Fam. VI. Hemerobiidse.— Ant Lions, 

 Lacewing- Flies, etc. 

 Insects with a vertical head ; maxillae free with five-jointed palpi ; 

 the labial palpi three-jointed. Wings equal in size and highly net- 

 veined. Tarsus five-jointed. The metamorphosis here is exceptional, 

 being almost complete. The larva has mandibles and maxilla? 

 forming spear-like organs, which are also used for sucking. The 

 insects have in fad a sucfional mouth in the earlier stages of their 



