186 



INSECTA. 



A male Coccus from Java, remarkable for its antennae, which are 

 composed of about tAventy-two joints, granose, and densely pilose, and 

 that has two tolerably thick and almost coriaceous wings, is the type 

 of the genus Monophleba of Leach. 



ORDER VIII. 



NEUROPTERA* 



The Neuroptera are distinguished from the three preceding orders 

 by their two upper wings, Avhich are membranous, generally naked, 

 diaphanous, and similar to the under ones in texture and properties. 

 They are distinguished from the eleventh and twelfth by the number 

 of these organs, as well as by their mouth, fitted for mastication or 

 furnished with mandibles and true maxillae, or, in other words, or- 

 ganized as usual, a character which also removes this order from the 

 tenth, or that of the Lepidoptera, where, besides, the four wings are 

 farinaceous. ' The surface of these wings in the Neuroptera is finely 

 reticulated, and the under ones are most commonly as large as those 

 above them, but sometimes wider, and sometimes narroAver and longer. 

 Their maxillae and the inferior portion of their labrum or the men- 

 tum are never tubular. The abdomen is destitute of a sting and 

 rarely furnished with an ovipositor. 



Their antennae are \isually setaceous, and composed of numerous 

 joints. They have two or three simple eyes. The trunk is formed of 

 three segments intimately united in a single body, distinct from the 

 abdomen, and bearing the six legs; the first of these segments is 

 usually very short, and in the form of a collar. The number of 

 joints in the tarsi varies. The body is usually elongated, and with 

 rather soft or but slightly squamous teguments; the abdomen is al- 

 ways sessile. Many of these Insects are carnivorous in their first 

 state and in their last. 



Some merely experience a semimetamorphosis, the rest a complete 

 one; but the larvae have six hooked feet, which they usually employ 

 in seeking their food. 



I will divide this order into three families, which will successively 

 present to us the following natural affinities : 



1. Carnivorous Insects, subject to a semimetamorphosis, with 

 aquatic larvae. 



* The Odonata and most of the Sj/nistata of Fabricius. 



