CHAPTER V. 

 Order VI.— PSEUDONEUROPTERA.* 



{Dragon-flies, May-flics, Stone-flics, ct al.) 



The members of this order have four wings; these are membran- 

 ous, and usually furnished with numerous veins. The mouth-parts 

 are formed for biting except in one family (Ephemeridce), where they 

 are rudimentary. The metamorphosis is incomplete. 



The insects which are here classed as the order Pseudoneuroptera, 

 and those which in a later part of the book are termed Neuroptera 

 were formerly united in a single order, under the name Neuroptera. 

 This union was based upon the similarity of the characters presented 

 by the mouth-parts and the wings in the two groups. But there is 

 a radical difference in the nature of the transformations. In one 

 the metamorphosis is incomplete ; in the other it is complete. 

 Although it is difficult to find characters presented by the adult 

 insects which will separate these two groups, this difference in the 

 transformations indicates that they are not closely enough related 

 to be placed in the same order. The term Neuroptera has, there- 

 fore, been restricted to those with a complete metamorphosis ; and 

 the name Pseudoneuroptera, i.e., false Neuroptera, applied to those 

 with an incomplete metamorphosis. 



The beginning student, in the classification of his specimens, will 

 find some difficulty in separating these two orders. But this can be 

 done by means of the table on pages 49 to 52. And as soon as one 

 becomes familiar with the families included in these orders there 

 will be no necessity for the use of the table. 



In the linear arrangement I have adopted, these two closely- 

 allied orders become widely separated ; this results from the separa- 

 tion of the orders into two series, in one of which the metamorpho- 

 sis is incomplete, in the other complete. 



The Pseudoneuroptera is not a well-marked order. Not only is 

 it difficult to distinguish it from the Neuroptera, but it includes 

 families which differ greatly from each other. The differences be- 



* Pseudoneuroptera: pseudes (ipevdyS), false; Neuroptera. 



