THE LINNEAN OHDER NEUROPTERA. 29 



take up our attention, and, to use the words of one author, " We 

 meet with a number of flies of no particular beauty, but which, from 

 the peculiarities of their structure and habits, are of considerable 

 interest to the entomologist." With regard to the first portion of 

 this quotation, I may say that there will always be some people 

 who will differ from others as to what constitutes beauty. 



These insects in their larval state are almost all aquatic ; thej' 

 build for themselves cases composed of any materials that may 

 come handy : some species make their cases of grains of sand, 

 fixing them together by means of delicate silken threads which 

 the larva spins from a spinneret situated beneath the labium ; 

 others, again, use shells, stones, and stems of aquatic plants. 



The British Isles are about as well represented as to number 

 of species as almost any other country, the number recorded from 

 Britain being upwards of one hundred and fifty species, which are 

 distributed among seven families, the LimnophiliclcB, Leptoceridcs, 

 and Hi/dropsyckid<jB absorbing most of the species ; the Limno- 

 philidce being represented by fifty-two species, the Leptoceridce by 

 thirty-two, and the Hydropsychidce by thirty-one. Many of these 

 insects attain a large size, Halesus digitatus being nearly two inches 

 in expanse of wing ; many other species approach this size. 



The Leptoceridce are remarkable for the length of their 

 antennae ; in many species these organs are much longer than the 

 wings. Some species of this family are very handsome, Mysta- 

 cides azurea being of a lovely steel-blue ; M. longicornis is 

 beautifully banded, reminding one of the Lepidoptera; while 

 Setodes argentipunctella is spotted with small silvery scales. 



The Hydroptilidce form a small family of insects that might 

 easily be mistaken for Lepidoptera, so closely do they resemble 

 some of the Elachistidce in their general appearance. 



The caddis-flies are only to be made out with certainty by an 

 examination of the anal characters, more particularly those of the 

 male. Caddis-flies are to be found in almost all situations where 

 water occurs, the Limnophil'idu' delighting in stagnant water; 

 others visiting streams to pass tlieir larval state ; while for some 

 species, such as Chimarra marg'uiata, the highly aerated water of 

 a mountain torrent is necessary for their existence. Some species, 

 probably of strong flying powers, are to be found far removed 

 from water. 



I think that I have said sufiicientto show that we have infinite 



