600 NEUROPTERA. 



the surface, but I never saw what I could assert to be the pro- 

 jecting of the eggs from the body upon plants or into the 

 water. The English entomologists assert that the female 

 Agrion goes below the surface to a depth of several inches to 

 deposit eggs upon the submerged stems of plants." The 

 Agrions, however, according to Lacaze-Duthiers, a 

 French anatomist, make with the ovipositor a little 

 notch in the plant upon which they lay their eggs. 



These eggs hatch during the middle of the sum- 

 mer, and the young larva (Fig. 62) when first hatched 

 differs from the more mature larva (Fig. 580), in not 

 - 580. leaving the rudiments of wings, and in the long, 

 spider-like legs. The larva is very active in its habits, being 

 provided with six legs attached to the thorax, on the back of 

 which, after the first one or two moults, are the little wing- 

 pads, or rudimentary wings. Tlie large head is provided 



with enormous eyes, while a pair of 



simple, minute ej-elets (ocelli) are 



^j;;:?^^^. placed near the origin of the small 



/|V^^^-\I\V bristle-like feelers, or antennai. 



rVA.-. /TA Seen from beneath, instead of the 



\ \ \ / / j formidable array of jaws and ac- 



\ \ / / cessory organs commonly observed 



M ^ in most carnivorous larvae, we see 



nothing but a broad, smooth mask 



X covering the lower part of the face, 



L'^'-A bi^t when some unwary insect comes 



^ ./..... \ within striking distance the battery 



X r\ y of jaws is unmasked, and opens 



y ''^(A/ 'TiV"""" ''upon the victim. This mask (Fig. 



/^^^-- y_A| yf^\~^ ^81 , under side of head of a dragon- 



1 ( II At I 1 ) ^y ^'^^^"'^i with the labium fully ex- 



x" V "V" "V"vrv _\\ / /y tended ; a-, x', x", the three subdivi- 



•c" " -^^i^^^^^l//^ sions ; ?/, maxilla;. For other details 



\ ^ of the head of the larva of Diplax, 



Fig- 581. see p. 60) is peculiar to the j^oung, 



or larva and pupa, of the dragon-fly. It is the labium, or under 

 lip greatly enlarged, and armed at the broad spoon-shaped 

 extremity (ic) with two sharp hooks, adapted for seizing and 



( 



