CHAPTER XXII 



ORDER MECOPTERA* 



Head 



Fig. 311 

 and tail of Panorpa 



The Scorpion-flies and Their Allies 



The winged members of this order have four wings; these are usually 

 long, narrow, membranous, and furnished with a considerable number of 

 cross-veins; the wings are wanting or vestigial in two genera. The head is 

 prolonged into a deflexed beak, at the end of which chewing mouth-parts are 

 situated. The metamorphosis is complete. 



This is a small order composed of very remarkable in- 

 sects. The most striking character common to all is the 

 shape of the head, which is prolonged into a deflexed 

 beak (Fig. 311). The beak is formed from the greatly 

 elongated clypeus, submentum, and stipes of the maxillae 

 » with the rather small, slender mandibles situated at the 



t» K ti P- 



^^i The antennas are long, very slender, and many- 



segmented. The compound eyes are moderately large 

 and the legs are long and slender with five-segmented 

 tarsi. 



The wings are membranous and are usually long and narrow but in 

 certain rare forms they are comparatively broad. The venation of the 

 wings is generalized but with many cross-veins. 



The metamorphosis is complete. The larvae are caterpillar-like, with 

 three pairs of thoracic legs and with or without abdominal prolegs. The 

 pupae are exarate, that is, the wings and legs are free, as in the Coleop- 

 tera and Hymenoptera. 



The scorpion-flies. — The most com- 

 mon members of this order belong to the 

 genus Panorpa, of which there are nearly 

 twenty described North American species. 

 Figure 312 represents a female of this 

 genus. In our more common species the 

 wings are yellowish, spotted with black, 

 genus are remarkable for the peculiar Panorpa, female 

 form of the caudal part of the abdomen (Fig. 313). This 

 at first sight reminds one of the corresponding part of a scorpion, and 

 suggested the common name scorpion-flies for these insects. But in re- 

 ality the two are very different; the last segment of the male Panorpa, 

 instead of ending in a sting, like that of a scorpion, is greatly enlarged 

 and bears a pair of clasping organs. The tarsal claws are toothed. 



The adults are found resting on the surface of foliage of rank herbage 

 growing on the banks of shaded streams and in damp woods where there 

 * Mecoptera: mecos (/jljjkos), length; pteron (irrepov), a wing. 



178 



Fig. 313. — Abdomen of 

 Panorpa ru/escens. 



The males of this 



