38 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
abdomen was suspended only by a small portion of membrane, flew to a 
considerable distance after a pin had been passed through the thorax 
for six hours. 
The pairing of these insects is effected ina singular manner ; the 
male seizing the neck of the female by means of the hooks at the 
extremity of the body, and thus for a time the two insects fly about in 
a line, at length, however, the female curves the body, sothat the 
under side of its extremity is brought into contact with the organs 
placed at the base of the abdomen of the male. Burmeister, however, 
asserts that these proceedings are but preliminary, and that copulation 
takes place in the ordinary manner (and see Drury, vol. i. p. 114. 
2d edition ). 
The female, after impregnation, deposits her eggs in the water, into 
which she intrudes the extremity of the abdomen so as to attach 
them to the stalks of plants, &c.; sometimes even, according to an ac- 
count with which I have been favoured by Mr. Patterson, the female 
Agriones descend to a considerable depth below the surface. (See 
Ent. Trans., vol. i. p. 82. app.) I have observed these females, in the 
act of oviposition, beat their tails upon the surface of the water with 
rapid succession, until the eggs form a mass like a bunch of grapes. 
In their preparatory states, these insects reside in the water, and 
have to a certain extent a resemblance with the imago. The body is 
more or less elongated, according to its form in the perfect state (fig. 
62.10. pupa of L. depressa, jig. 62. 16. pupa of Agrion virgo); the 
eyes are of moderate size; the ocelli wanting ; the antenne filiform 
(not setaceous, as in the imago), and 7-jointed ( fig. 62. 13.— jig. 62. 18. 
antenna, and jig. 62. 19. tarsus of pupa of Agrion virgo); the parts of 
the mouth are not dissimilar to those of the perfect insect *, with the 
exception of the lower lip, which is formed into a remarkable mask- 
like elongated appendage, which completely shuts in the mouth, to 
which, when unemployed, it is closely applied (as in fig. 62.10.); on 
extending it, however (as in fig. 62. 11. and fig. 62. 12., seen from be- 
neath), it is found to consist of, Ist, a basal piece (or cardo) by which it 
is united to the under side of the head; 2ndly, an elongated piece di- 
lated in front, and concave beneath, so as to close upon the former ; 
* In the pupa of L. depressa ( jig. 62. 10.), the labrum is transverse, with the 
lateral angles rounded off; the mandibles triangular, horny, with several small apical 
teeth; the maxilla are slender, with five acute apical teeth, and an inarticulated 
palpus, of equal length with the maxillary lobe ; and the tongue distinct, as in the 
imago. The mandibles and maxille are much more strongly toothed in the pupe 
of the A’shne, 
