140 INSECTS. 



with the leaf on which they are laid by a slender hair- 

 like footstalk about \ in. long. Six or eight of these are 

 placed near together. The larvae when hatched feed on 

 Aphides, and it is worthy of note that the Laceflies, like 

 the Aphis-eating Ladybird, have when handled or crushed 

 a strong and disagreeable bug-like smell. The larva of 

 the Laceflies also resembles those of some species of 

 Beetles mentioned above, in the curious habit of clothing 

 itself, using for this the emptied skins of its prey. 



As in most of the roof-winged Neuroptera, the pupa 

 state is inactive, and, when about to change, the larva 

 spins itself a silken cocoon from a spinning apparatus 

 which, unlike that of most larvae, is placed (as in spiders) 

 at the end of the body. The usual position for the 

 spinners of larvaB is at the mouth. 



The Laceflies are divided into five genera, containing 

 about fifty species. 



Next to the Laceflies comes the only Neuropterous 

 insect which has but little pretension to elegance namely 

 Sialis Lutaria (PL V., fig. 4). This insect, resembling the 

 Laceflies in general configuration, is totally without their 

 delicacy of form or colouring. It is of a brown colour, with 

 brownish wings strongly veined ; the head is rather large 

 and depressed, and the shoulders are high, giving a very 

 humpbacked aspect to the fly, which is increased by the 

 wings forming a flat surface at the shoulders, from which 

 they shelve into the usual roof-like position. The Sialis 

 is dull and sluggish in its motions as well as in appear- 

 ance. The Iarva3 are aquatic and the pupae inactive. 



The beautiful and common Scorpion-fly, Panorpa 

 communis (PL V., fig. 2), is easily recognised, whether by 

 its long horse-like face, its brown and white speckled, 

 net-like wings, which when at rest lie horizontally over 



