452 ARTICULATES: INSECTS. 



Flies appear in such immense swarms in some parts of 

 Europe, that the people collect their dead bodies into 

 heaps, as dressing for the land. They are common in 

 this country. One of our species is shown in Fig. 348. 



ODONATA, Fabr., OR DRAGON-FLY FAMILY. This 

 Family comprises neuroptera which are known as Devil's 

 Darning-needles, and are distinguished by their long 

 body, large, lustrous, gauze-like wings, large head, large 

 lateral compound eyes, and three ocelli. They are among 

 the most conspicuous of insects, and at once arrest the 

 attention by their size, light and graceful figure, varie- 

 gated colors, and the great velocity with which they speed 

 their way over fields and meadows, or skim the surfaces 

 of the pools or ponds in search of flies, mosquitoes, and 



Fig. 349- 



Dragon-Fly, L. trimaculata, DeGeer. 



other insects, which constitute their food. In the larva 

 and pupa states they live in the water, and when the time 

 comes for the last change, they crawl up the stems of 

 plants, and, having withdrawn from the pupa-skin, which 

 remains clinging to the plant, and dried themselves a little, 

 they spread their wings and dart swiftly away. Though 

 they bite quite fiercely with their jaws, they are without 

 any sort of sting, and are perfectly harmless to man.* 

 The Genus Agrion embraces small slender species, of a 



* The various stages in the life of the Dragon-Fly are shown on p. 449 

 (from Pouchet). 



