ORDER MECAPTERA. 





the form of i h< and breast pii 



nites), we have a Btriking approximation to the moths. The 



abdomen is long and Blender, composed of ten 



and in the male ending in ;i larg ps. The larva is 



caterpillar-like, the head Bmall, the feei short and -mall, 



and there are eight pairs of abdominal feet, while the bodj 



lorned with bntton-like, bristle bearing wart.- or spi 



The metamorphoses are complete, the pupae being somewhat 



like those of the lowest moths, the limbs being free. 



Family Panorpidae. — With the characters of the order. In Pan< 

 the body of the male ends in a forceps. It has been known to 

 attack fishes, piercing their eyes with its beak. In larva hurt- an 

 inch deep into moss covered soil. The short, 4- join ted thoracic feel 

 nble those of caterpillars; but the most striking point of resem- 

 blance to the latter i- seen in the eight pairs of abdominal fe< t. Not 

 01 iv the form of the body and legs, but also the arrangement and 

 shape of the button-like, bristle-bearing warts on the body recall the 

 general appearance of arctian caterpillars. Bittacus lias a very long 

 bIi inter body, with long legs, and the male abdomen hear- no for 

 The Ian I aewhat like that of Panorpa, but is adorned with 



Fio. 81.— Panorpa <>r Scorpion-fly, ami lai 



long scattered dorsal spines, ami a lateral row of slender filami 

 each of the nine abdominal segments bears a pain inted 



While the Lepidoptera are supposed to have originated from 

 the same ancestors as the Trichoptera, it is a signifii that the 



eruciform larva' of the Mecaptera actually have 2 

 each abdominal segment. This suggests that the I i may 



have originated from the same stem-form as the Mi > though it 



should he remarked that the moths themselvi - nable 



the caddis-flies. A very rare ami singular fori: 

 Newman, the male abdomen bearing a large f ■male 



u is wingless; in the male the wings an i tary. B. 



niwriundv* Fitch has only been collected in tin 

 snow. The species are brassj brown, brassy bla< 

 green. 



