24 REPORT OF NEW JERSEY STATE MUSEUM. 



densely covered with hair, the hind pair is folded under the fore 

 wings and the mouth parts are aborted. The transformations 

 are complete, and some of the local caddices or cases are marvels 

 of structure and mimicry. 



Direct descendants of this order are the Lcpidoptera or scale- 

 winged insects, including butterflies and moths. In these the 

 mouth parts of the adult are modified into a coiled tongue serving 

 only to lap up liquid food, while the caterpillars or larvae have the 

 mandibles well developed and chew their food. The transforma- 

 tions are complete. 



The mud or earth living larvae developed at once into terrestrial 

 types, of which the oldest and most generalized are the Mecoptera 

 or scorpion flies. They derive their common name from the fact 

 that the males of many of the species are furnished with a promi- 

 nent anal forceps curved upward like the tail of a scorpion, 

 although entirely harmless. The wings are long, rather narrow, 

 net-veined and not folded. The mouth parts are prolonged into 

 a beak-like structure in which the parts are much divided and 

 synthetic in type. They are predatory in all stages and the trans- 

 formations are complete. 



The Hymeno'ptera contain the bees, wasps, ants, saw-flies and 

 the like, and among them we find the highest type of social 

 organization and the extreme of intellectual development among 

 insects. The mouth parts are in many cases elongated to enable 

 them to gather the nectar of flowers, and they have four trans- 

 parent wings with comparatively few veins and cells except in 

 the saw-flies, where the venation is more complicated. The trans- 

 formation is complete and in many cases the larva is dependent 

 for its food upon the supply gathered by its parent. 



The Diptera or flies can always be recognized by having two 

 wings only, the hind pair appearing as vestiges merely. The 

 larvae are mostly footless, grub-like or maggots, and, while there 

 is no development of social or intellectual characters, the flies are 

 in their transformations and physical structure at the head of the 

 insect world. The mouth structures are variably developed and 

 may be adapted for lapping as in the common house-fly, or for 

 piercing and sucking as in the equally common mosquito. The 



