NEUROPTERA 



289 



of each front wing. On the hind wings, the white band is representee^ 

 by only a few minute dots or is entirely wanting. 



Family RAPHIDIID^* 



The Snake-Flies 



Fig. 323.^ — Raphidia, 

 female. 



The members of the RaphidiidcC are found in this country only 

 in the Far West. They are strange-appearing insects, the prothorax 

 being greatly elongate, like the neck of a camel 

 (Fig. 323). The female bears a long, slender, 

 sickle-shaped ovipositor at the end of the ab- 

 domen. The fore legs resemble the other pairs 

 of legs, and are borne at the hind end of the pro- 

 thorax. The wings are long and narrow and fur- 

 nished with a pterostigma. 



The wing-venation of a representative of each of the two genera 

 belonging to this family is figured by the 

 writer in his "The Wings of Insects." 



The larvce are found under bark and 

 are carnivorous. They are common in Cali- 

 fornia imder the loose bark of the eucalyp- 

 tus. They also occur in orchards, and 

 doubtless do good by destroying the larvae 

 and pupae of the codlin-moth. The pupas 

 are not enclosed in silken cocoons but lie 

 concealed in sheltered places. Figure 324 

 represents a larva and a pupa of Raphtdia 

 as figured by Professor Kellogg. 



This family includes only two genera, 

 Raphidia and Inocellia. In the former there 

 are three ocelli on the top of the head be- 

 Fig._ 324.— Larva^and pupa tween the compound eyes ; in the latter these 

 ocelli are waa'ting. Six species of Raphidia 

 and three of Inocellia are found in America 

 north of Mexico. 



of Raphidia. (From Kel- 

 logg.) 



Family MANTISPID^ 

 The Mantis-like Nenroptera 



The members of the Mantispida) are even more strange in appear- 

 ance than are those of the preceding family. Here, as in that family, 



*This family is separated from the Neuroptera by Handlirsch ('o6-'o8 ) and 

 • "aade to constitute a separate order, the Raphidioidea. 



