208 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



ceps-like apparatus. It is common in woods and feeds upon other 

 insects. 



Libellulidae. Dragon-flies. Devil's-darning'-needle. Musquitoe- 

 hawks. Demoiselles in France. The head is large and globular, 

 eyes immense, encircling the head ; thorax square, wings large 

 net-veined, equal ; abdomen long linear, cylindrical. They are 

 continually flying over pools, hawking for smaller insects in hot 

 summer days, flying often till dusk. Though dreaded by most 

 persons, they are perfectly harmless, though giving a sharp bite 

 with their powerful jaws when held in the hand. " They are difficult 

 to kill, and should be brushed with alcohol or benzine, or killed 

 by ether. The Agrionidac are small slender species of graceful 

 form, and blue, green or bronze or red colored, flying away and 

 alighting upon rushes in the water, and are easy to catch ; they 

 must be pinned carefully, and are very brittle when dry. The 

 large species are hard to catch ; patience and swiftness in the use 

 of the net will soon render the beginner dexterous. These insects 

 have also their subimago state. They should be described in life, 

 as the colors fade rapidly after death. The larvae (Fig. 31) are 

 interesting. They have large jaws, marked by an p 



immense labium, otherwise the mouth parts are 

 much like grasshoppers, &c. The larva of Agrion 

 is slender and long, with thin caudal lanceolate 

 plates. They all walk over the bottom in search of 

 other insects, and propel themselves more rapidly 

 by ejecting behind them, with considerable force, a 

 stream of the water that has been used for respiration. 



Ephemeridae or May flies, as their name implies, are very short 

 lived insects. They have weak slender bodies, obsolete mouth- 

 parts as they take no food in the perfect state, minute antennae, 

 the wings are very unequal in size, and the abdomen has two or 

 three long appendages. The May flies soon after leaving the pupa 

 case with their wings of full size, cast off* a thin pellicle. This 

 moulting is attended by a change of color and of increase of length 

 of the tail-like appendages, and this period is called the subimago 

 state. They fly towards evening in large numbers. The larvae 

 while resembling the imagines, have long antennae, mandibles for 

 chewing, lateral ciliated filaments along the sides of the body for 

 breathing organs, and three caudal filaments. They live, it is 

 stated, two or three years. They either live in burrows, under 



