LONDON INSECTS 75 



out, with any very powerful lens, the curious rudi- 

 mentary wings, like two sticks with a knob at the end 

 of each, already referred to as a characteristic of the 

 whole order of ' two wings.' The cutting of the sections 

 is very clear, as is the plated cuirass on the back over- 

 lapping the breast-plate, both divided very distinctly 

 into segments which need no glass to count. 



They have no smell, which is a consideration, and 

 in spite of the alarming varnished spike which the 

 female carries conspicuously at her tail, they have no 

 sting. 



Towards evening there is no difficulty in finding out 

 the use of the terrible-looking instrument. 



It is an egg-placer, which can be opened and shut at 

 will, like a Heron's beak. The portly-looking mothers- 

 to-be may then be seen by dozens waddling along the 

 grass, or lifting themselves clumsily for a yard or two 

 at a time with flight very different from the maiden 

 dance of the morning. When they come to a suitable 

 place, usually where the grass is thin and a little patch 

 of bare earth is just visible between the blades, they set 

 themselves on end, and either pirouette round and round 

 for a few moments, or make crowbars of themselves, 

 and thump till the spike is far enough into the ground 

 to satisfy them that the cargo of eggs to be slipped 

 through it will be safe. If a little bit of dirt finds its 

 way between the mandibles of the tail-beak of a Daddy, 

 or, to be more correct, Mammy, Longlegs the males 

 end abruptly without any spike or if anything else 

 happens to prevent them from shutting comfortably, 



