SECRETARY'S REPORT. 157 



separated through the middle by a broad irregular yellow band. 

 The feet are black. The figure represents the insect of tiie 

 natural size. 



Among the insects composing the second division of this 

 Order, or as they may be called, the true Ncuroptera, we find 

 some which instead of flying by day, and resting during the 

 night, seem to prowl abroad only when darkness shrouds the 

 earth and myriads of insect depredators venture forth to devour 

 the foliage, moist with the evening dew, or to deposit their eggs 

 unseen by human eye. Many of these fall victims to the appe- 

 tites of night birds, like the whippoorwills, and owls, others are 

 devoured by toads, snakes, skunks, moles and bats, but the 

 night-flying Neuroptera figure largely in the work of destruc- 

 tion. One of the most common of the larger species in this 

 latitude is the Chauliddes peclinicdrnis of LinnaBus, or comb- 

 horned Chauliodes, so called on account of the beautiful man- 

 ner in which the antennas or horns are furnished with teeth 

 like a comb. The first or generic name is derived from the 

 Greek word chauHodon, signifying with projecting teeth. It 

 is of a greyish brown color, marked with streaks and spots of 

 yellowish, particularly on the head and thorax. The eyes are 

 small, black, and prominent, and nearly in a line between them, 

 upon the head, will be seen three shining points arranged in a 

 triangular form, ' . ' ; these are called the ocelli, or small eyes, 

 and are supposed to be organs of vision ; in front of these are 

 the antennse, which are longer in this division of the Neurop- 

 tera than in the last described, and in this species measure 

 about half an inch, finely toothed on the inside, the teeth being 

 longest near the base of the antenna, and gradually decreasing 

 to about the fifth joint from the apex, when tiiey assume the 

 ordinary form, producing a beautiful tapering effect. The pro- 

 thorax or neck is long, and of a square form, while the two 

 remaining parts of the thorax, usually called the meso-thorax 

 or middle, and the meta-thorax or hind thorax are prominent, 

 and separated by a deep incision ; and the abdomen is very 

 short compared with those of the preceding division, and of 

 softer and more leathery texture. The wings are long and 

 broad, expanding over three inches, and being more than half 

 an inch in breadth at the widest part ; they are of a light 

 smoky tinge, or ash-colored, with a few darker transverse streaks 



