200 



The Orders of Insects 



terminal segments; and these form, together with the 

 flattened blades of these maxillae and the large hinged 

 upper lip, a most efficient trap for catching the small 

 insects on which dragonflies feed. The prothorax is 

 small, the other two segments of the fore-body large; 



a side-view shows that 

 they slope forward, the 

 mesothorax lying to a 

 great extent above the 

 metathorax. By this 

 arrangement the legs 

 are thrust far to the 

 front, the shins of all 

 three pairs projecting 

 beneath the head ; they 

 are fringed with many 

 long spines and serve 

 for catching prey during 

 flight, or for clinging 

 to plants ; they are ill- 

 adapted for walking. 

 The wings, which are 

 never absent, are very 

 powerful, those of the 

 two pairs closely alike, 

 of firm glassy texture 

 and incapable of fold- 

 ing; there are many 

 longitudinal nervures, 

 between which an im- 

 mense number of cross 

 nervules occur, mark- 

 ing out a multitude of 

 quadrate cells over the wing area ; a very character- 

 istic feature in a dragonfly's wing is the node — a 

 slight re-entrant angle on the costa whence arises a 



Fig. 112. — a. Dragonfiy (Zyxovitna jiiulti- 

 nerz'is, Carp.) Male, Papua ; «. node ; 

 s. stigma, natural size ; h. hinder 

 abdominal segments from side, showing 

 cercopods and ventral process ; c. front 

 abdominal segments from side, showing 

 genital armature. Twice natural size. 

 After Carpenter, Proc. R. Dubl. Soc, 

 vol. 8. 



