THE LIBELLULIDZ. 355 
large claws, which enable them to dig in the mud at the bottom 
of the streams, where they make galleries, into which they retire 
out of the way of danger. They breathe with their gills or 
branchiz situated on the abdomen, and which are narrow, finely 
divided, and covered with delicate hairs. The nymph is quite as 
active as the larva. 
The insects which are united in the genus Clove have very 
pretty larve, which are slender, excessively delicate, almost trans- 
parent, and provided with leaf-shaped branchiz, which they vibrate 
incessantly and with great rapidity. They have tiny legs, and are 
provided with broad fringes to the body, which act as oars. 
These little larve, so exquisitely elegant, live in the open 
water, swim with ease, and catch their prey and elude their 
enemies by the rapidity of their movements. When in the adult 
state they have their wings veined, and are furnished with only 
two bristle-shaped projections on the abdomen. The males have 
very extraordinary eyes, and each appears to be surmounted by 
a second, so that this insect with double eyes, transparent wings, 
and a fawn-coloured thorax, is called Cloe bioculata. 
The most important family of the order of the Meuroptera is 
that of the Lzbellulid@, and its members present the charac- 
teristics of the group in the highest degree. They are those 
insects which are constantly flying during the summer by the 
river side and over ponds and lakes, and which in England are 
called Dragon Flies ; but which, on account of their gauzy wings, 
brilliant colours, their thin and exquisite shapes, and their elegant 
motions, are named Demoiselles by the French. This difference 
in the names is very significant of the national thought. In 
England we appreciate people for their intrinsic merits; but in 
France it is too common to be guided by externals. With all 
their admiration for the beauty of the fair sex, no Frenchman 
would compare these beautiful and aérial insects with the ladies, 
if their habits were known; for under this fine exterior there 
exists a terrible amount of destructive will and power; and they 
are, perhaps, the most bloodthirsty things in creation. We have 
not been misguided, for we know that from their very birth, and 
in every stage of their development, they are worthy of the name 
of dragon flies. The wings of these insects are nearly equal in 
a 
