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ORDER IV. NEUROPTERA. 



As has been seen by the brief synoptical view given 

 on a former page, this order is essentially charac- 

 terised by a mouth organised for gnawing, and four 

 naked membranous wings of equal consistency that 

 s, the superior pair are not thickened for the purpose 

 )f protecting the others, as is the case with the orders 

 utherto described. To these must be added, in order 

 ,o render the definition exclusive of some of the foi- 

 owing orders, that the wings are reticulated or in- 

 terlaced with a delicate net-work a character indi- 

 cated by the name, which is derived from vgygov, a 

 nerve, with the ordinary postfix. 



All the wings are fully fitted for flight, and in the 

 majority of cases both pairs are of equal size, as we 

 see them in dragon-flies. But in some tribes the 

 posterior pair are smaller than the others, (in this 

 respect resembling the Hymenoptera,) and in a few 

 cases they entirely disappear.* The reticulations are 

 iner and denser in some than in others, but they are 

 always too numerous, variable, and minute to be 

 available for the purposes of classification, like the 

 cells of the Hymenoptera. When at rest their position 

 s various, but most commonly they are extended at 

 right angles from the body, nearly in the same man- 

 ner as they are borne during flight. In other cases, 

 Jie upper pair are incumbent on the lower, and de- 

 lexed at the sides. It might at once be inferred 



In Neuroptera the hinder wings assume a remarkable 

 ;brm, being long and linear, extending behind the insect like 

 *wo tails. 



