NEUROPTERA. — PANORPIDA. 53 
a very short narrow collar ; the mesothorax is large ; the wings are of 
moderate and equal size, numerously reticulated, the posterior not 
being folded when at rest. The legs are long and slender; the tarsi 
5-jointed, simple, with two tibial spurs, and denticulated ungues, and 
a large pulvillus ( fig. 65. 16.). 
The type of this family is the Panorpa communis Zinn., from which 
the leading characters given above are chiefly drawn. It is a very abun- 
dant species, known under the ordinary name of the scorpion-fly, from 
the singular apparatus with which the extremity of the body of the males 
(fig. 65. 9.) is armed. In this sex the sixth and seventh abdominal 
segments are slender, and somewhat recurved ; and the eighth segment 
is greatly thickened, forming an oval mass, armed with a pair of for- 
ceps. In the female the terminal segments are attenuated, and fur- 
nished at the tip with a pair of very minute 3-jointed filaments 
(fig. 65. 17.). These insects, as far as hitherto observed, feed upon 
other insects in the perfect state. They are very active, and the elon- 
gated abdomen is capable of great motion in every direction, as well 
as considerable elongation, evidently enabling the female to deposit 
her eggs in deep holes or crevices. They are generally found in 
hedges, and amongst herbage, in damp situations. Of the larva state 
of these insects, no observation has been hitherto recorded. M. 
Macquart gave a description of the pupa of the common species in 
the Annales Sci. Nat. 1831, tom. xxii. p.463., without, however, being 
able to state any thing of its habits, or whether it was quiescent or 
active ; he thought it, however, most probable to be active, because it 
was provided with limbs proper for motion; its structure, however, 
clearly showed it not to be aquatic in this state. F. Stein has, more- 
over, published a figure of the pupa ( fig. 65. 18.) of the female (as is 
evident from the structure of the abdomen, although he calls it the 
male) cf P. communis, which he found at the depth of an inch in 
moist earth, at the foot of an alder stump. From this figure it is evi- 
dent that it is inactive in this state, the limbs being laid along the 
breast, and the antenne along the sides; the head is much less 
elongated than in the imago (fig. 65. 19.) (Wiegmann’s Arch., vol. iv. 
331.). 
The other English genus Boreus Zaétr. (Ateleptera Hoffmans), 
forming the family Boreidz Steph. and the osculant ‘order Raphioptera 
Macl. (Hore Ent., 439.), comprises a single species of minute size 
and singular structure, agreeing with Panorpa in the general structure 
2 
Eo 
