8 NEW ZEALAND NEUROPTERA. 



strongest currents with considerable agility by means of 

 its long legs, which are very powerful. 



The length of the larva, when full grown, is about \ inch. The general 

 colour is dull greenish-brown, spotted and striped with dull grey. The head 

 is small and narrow, with the eyes black and prominent. The prothorax is 

 broader than the head and nearly oval in shape ; the meso- and meta-thorax 

 are very large and the wing-pads very prominent, and considerably ex- 

 tended. The abdomen is slender, with ten visible segments. The two 

 terminal appendages are nearly as long as the body ; they are very divergent 

 and strongly curved outwards. Between the origins of these appendages is 

 situated a retractile tuft of rather short and very stout bristles, which 

 appears to be the only respiratory organ possessed by the larva. The legs 

 are stout and rather long. The antennae are about three-quarters the length 

 of the body. The basal joint is very stout, the second joint cylindrical, and 

 the remaining joints very numerous, gradually tapering towards the apex. 



This larva is specially adapted for living in streams 

 with very rapid and powerful currents, and its appearance 

 during the late winter and early spring, when all water- 

 courses are more or less swollen, renders its special struc- 

 ture in this respect highly necessary to its well-being. 

 When full grown it leaves the water, usually crawling on 

 to an exposed stone, where the fly makes its escape in 

 the usual manner. 



The perfect insect appears early in September, and 

 may be found until the middle or end of December. It 

 is generally discovered resting amongst boulders at the 

 edges of the streams, very seldom flying or venturing any 

 distance from its native element. 



The present species also occurs in Tasmania, but Mr. 

 McLachlan is of opinion that our insect is not the true 

 L. opposita, therefore not identical with the Tasmanian 

 insect. 



Family VI.— ODON ATA— DRAGON-FLIES. 



" Elongate insects with very mobile head and large eyes, 

 with small and inconspicuous antenna ending in a bristle; 

 with four elongate wings sub-equal in size and similar in 

 texture, of papyraceous consistency and having 'many 

 ■veinlets, so that there exists a large number of small 

 cells. All the legs placed more anteriorly than the wings. 

 The earlier stages of the life are aquatic ; there is great 

 change in the appearance of the individual at the final 

 ecdysis, but there is no pupal instar" (Sharp). 



The following are some of the principal terms employed by systematists 

 in describing the neuration of dragon-flies. 



" On the anterior margin, about midway between the pterostigma and the 



