1 62 London Insects. 



vessel. Another turn of the lever, and the action was 

 reversed. The vessel comes to a dead stop in less 

 than her own length." 



The larvae of the Dragon Flies shoot themselves 

 along in just the same way by squirting through 

 tubes. The principle which had already been 

 applied in the British Navy in the Waterwitch is 

 exactly that of the German invention, and is destined, 

 according to Admiral von Henck, " to modify or 

 even supersede the present ship engines." The only 

 difference is a trifling one in the application. The 

 valves, instead of being " amidship," and " above the 

 water " as in the vessel, are in the insect placed at the 

 stern and used under water. 



Dragon Flies of several kinds are occasionally, 

 though not very often, to be seen in London, but we 

 have plenty of other representatives of the "nerve 

 winged" order. A very pretty one, with antennae 

 much longer than itself, is to be seen in quantities 

 any warm day in August or September, running about 

 on the flat wooden railing of the bridge across the 

 water in St. James's Park. It is what fly fishermen 

 know as the " Cinnamon," one of the Cadis Flies 

 the family which, in the grub state, live in the water 

 and build themselves quaintly-ornamented houses, 

 which they carry about with them. The nerves of 

 the wings of the Cinnamon Fly are almost hidden by 

 brown feathers, but it is still one of the " Neuroptera." 

 There are plenty of the " Ephemera," too, of which 

 the " May Fly " is one. May Flies in the perfect 

 state have no visible mouth, and no one yet has been 

 able to discover that they take food or nourishment 

 of any kind, unless it is sucked in with the air through 

 their breathing-tubes. 



One of the many things which Naturalists have yet 



