THE LIBELLULID^. 355 



large claws, which enable them to dig in the mud at the bottom 

 of the streams, where they make galleries, into which they retire 

 out of the way of danger. They breathe with their gills or 

 branchiae situated on the abdomen, and which are narrow, finely 

 divided, and covered with delicate hairs. The nymph is quite as 

 active as the larva. 



The insects which are united in the genus Cloe have very 

 pretty larvse, which are slender, excessively delicate, almost trans- 

 parent, and provided with leaf-shaped branchiae, which they vibrate 

 incessantly and with great rapidity. They have tiny legs, and are 

 provided with broad fringes to the body, which act as oars. 



These little larvae, so exquisitely elegant, live in the open 

 water, swim with ease, and catch their prey and elude their 

 enemies by the rapidity of their movements. When in the adult 

 state they have their wings veined, and are furnished with only 

 two bristle-shaped projections on the abdomen. The males have 

 very extraordinary eyes, and each appears to be surmounted by 

 a second, so that this insect with double eyes, transparent wings, 

 and a fawn-coloured thorax, is called Cloe biocidata. 



The most important family of the order of the Neiiroptera is 

 that of the LibellulidcE, and its members present the charac- 

 teristics of the group in the highest degree. They are those 

 insects which are constantly flying during the summer by the 

 river side and over ponds and lakes, and which in England are 

 called Dragon Flies ; but which, on account of their gauzy wings, 

 brilliant colours, their thin and exquisite shapes, and their elegant 

 motions, are named Demoiselles by the French. This difference 

 in the names is very significant of the national thought. In 

 England we appreciate people for their intrinsic merits ; but in 

 France it is too common to be guided by externals. With all 

 their admiration for the beauty of the fair sex, no Frenchman 

 would compare these beautiful and aerial insects with the ladies, 

 if their habits were known ; for under this fine exterior there 

 exists a terrible amount of destructive will and power; and they 

 are, perhaps, the most bloodthirsty things in creation. We have 

 not been misguided, for we know that from their very birth, and 

 in every stage of their development, they are worthy of the name 

 of dragon flies. The wings of these insects are nearly equal in 



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