SCi 



JOUENAL OP HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 22, 1874. 



lope into flies ere the weather haa begun to get cool, leaving 

 behind them egga for the next season. The larva; of the 

 Scorpion Fhes are cylindrical in shape, studded with tubercles, 

 and with short fore-legs ; the head, somewhat flattened, facili- 

 tates the burrowing operations that are essential in their mode 

 of life. Having reached maturity, each one scoops out for 

 itself a cell, and there becomes a singularly squat pupa, ex- 

 hibiting not much resemblance to the perfect insect that is to 

 appear from it. It should be noticed that if one of these flies 

 is laid hold of, it executes such contortions that some persons 

 are alarmed and speedily let it go. Boreus hyemalia is a 



rather scarce insect with us, and one of the few that come 

 forth in the winter. Though the legs are long, the form of 

 the head shows its connection with the Panorpidse ; and on the 

 back the wings are gathered into a Itind of bunch, which Mr. 

 Wood compares to the hump with which the traditional Mr. 

 Punch is adorned. The female has the wings almost sup- 

 pressed, and both are not much beyond the size of a good-sizfd 

 aphis. 



The Snake Flies (Raphidii) form another section of tho 

 Neuropterous insects. The designation, both in Latin and 

 English, arising from the length of the prothorax, which forms 



107. — :\rETAMOr;MIOSES OF THE SCORPION FLV (PANOnilA C0?i:MrNI3\ 



(EDfirai'lng lent by Mrssy.-t, Casscll tC- Co.) 



a peculiar neck, supporting a head also peculiar in shape. 

 These flies are moat common near ponds and rivulets, though 

 from their preying on winged insects, they occasionally visit 

 gardens when flowers are abundant, and attract flies by their 

 honied stores. A female liaphidius has an ovipositor formed 

 of two blades, its use being different from that with which the 

 genus Panorpa is furnished, as the eggs of the Raphidii are 

 thrust under the bark of trees. The larvie of the Snake Flies 

 present the same singularity as do the images, according to 

 Professor Westwood ; and they are serpent-like in action as 

 well as appearance, on the same authority, for he describes one 

 as creeping slowly along, gi\ing to the body violent jerking 

 motions from side to side. We may assume that it moves 

 thus in order to seize its prey, since in habit it is as carnivorous 

 as the fly. It is probable that Figuier is in error in represent- 

 ing the pupffi as active, a statement, indeed, which is almost 

 contradicted by his own figure. Staveley asserts that though 

 at first torpid, when near the end of its pupation a Snake Fly 

 begins to move about. In neither of these stages are the insects 



easy to discover. The flies attract notice, however, in the 

 spring, ere the host of the Diptera are on the wing. 



At this time of the year those who are busy in horticultural 

 pursuits, either in or out of doors, are sure to come across 

 individuals belonging to the family of the Myi'iapods or Centi- 



I pedes, which, though now by naturalists separated from the 

 true insects, are so commonly associated with them in popular 

 phrase that they may claim a passing mention. Reputed to 



' be hostile to tho garden, they are not all deserving of this bad 



I character. Everyone is doubtless at times a vegetable feeder; 



! but the species belonging to the " Hundred Legs " section of 

 the Myriapods are also destroyers of insects, some even that 

 are larger than themselves. The " Thousand Legs," on the 

 contrary, do mischief without any alleviation. In both divi- 



I sions the names are not to be taken literally, it must be re- 

 membered, for the Julida?, common types of the " Thousand 

 Legs" have about three hundred feet, and if we count the legs 

 of a Scolopendra, by no means could we make out anything 



i approaching the hundred. In all these species the insect com- 



