Neuroptera 205 



similar wings with very complex neuration and numerous cells. 

 The feelers are long, usually with bead-like segments, never 

 clubbed. Simple eyes may be present {Osmyllnde) or absent 

 (^Hemerobiina). The larvs are of the antlion form usual in this 

 order. Those of Hemerobius are short grubs beset with hairy 

 tubercles ; they live on plants and feed on Aphids whose juices 

 they suck, afterwards covering themselves with the dried skins of 

 their victims. The larva of Osmylus is more elongate with ex- 

 ceedingly long mandibles, and lives partly under water. The 

 family is generally distributed. 



Chrysopidae. — The Chrysopile or Golden-eye flies are nearly 

 related to the Lacewings, but may be distinguished by the re- 

 latively longer feelers whose segments are cylindrical, not bead- 

 like ; the hind-body also is relatively longer. The eggs of these 

 insects have long stalks by which they are attached to the stems 

 and leaves of plants. The larvse have the same habits as those of 

 Hemerobius, hunting for aphids and sucking out their juices. This 

 family also has a world-wide range. 



Coniopterygidae. — The ConiofUrygid^ are tiny insects, covered 

 with a white powdery secretion, and easily distinguished from all 

 other Neuroptera by the paucity of cross nervules on the wings, 

 and the very small size of the hind pair. The feelers are many- 

 jointed, slender, and much longer than the body. The jaws 

 resemble in structure those of the Hemerobiidse and Myrmeleonidse, 

 and the larvse also have similar form and habits ; those which 

 have been studied attack scale-insects and devour them by suction 

 through their slender grooved mandibles. 



Panorpidae. — The PanurpUa or Scorpion-flies ditFer so markedly 

 from other Neuroptera that they are sometimes reckoned a distinct 

 order (Panorpata or Mecaptera)(96, 97). The clypeus is excessively 

 long and narrow, so that the head is produced into a prominent 

 beak. The feelers are long, slender, and many-jointed. The 

 mandibles are small and toothed, inserted at the tip of the beak. 

 The first maxillas have elongate stipites, extending down the beak 

 on either side, and five-segmented palps ; the palps of the second 

 maxilla: have but two segments. The only wingless genus among 

 the Neuroptera (Boreus) belongs to this family. The legs are long ; 

 in a foreign genus (^Bittacus) excessively so, and adapted for seizing 

 prey. There are nine evident abdominal segments ; in Panorpa the 

 last two or three can be recurved over the back, like the tail of a 

 scorpion. The larvx are like the caterpillars of moths or saw- 

 flies, and are furnished (except in Boreus) with eight pairs of 

 abdominal pro-legs in addition to the six thoracic legs, as well as 

 with numerous spines, most of which disappear after the first 

 moult. Both flies and larva* are carnivorous. The family contains 

 only nine or ten genera which are distributed over most parts of 

 the world. 



