1 54 PANORPID.E. RAPHIDIID^E. MANTISPIDJE. 



is transformed into a pupa, which remains inactive, with its 

 limbs laid along the breast, but which is lively when disturbed ; 

 and here, too, it undergoes its final change. 



679. The PANORPID^E are known tinder the name of Scor- 

 pion-flies, on account of the remarkable conformation of the 



posterior extremity of the abdomen in 

 the male. The sixth and seventh seg- 

 ments are very slender and somewhat 

 curved upwards, so as to constitute a 

 sort of tail ; whilst the eighth is greatly 

 thickened, forming an oval mass, armed 

 with a pair of forceps, and capable of 

 FIG. 379.-PANORPA COM- fr ee motion in any direction. The species 

 MUNIS. represented in Fig. 379 is a very common 



British insect, frequenting hedges and 



woods. The Scorpion-flies are very active, and prey upon 

 other insects in the perfect state. The abdomen of the female is 

 also prolonged into an ovipositor ; by which she can deposit her 

 eggs in deep holes or crevices. 



680. The RAPHIDIIDJE are commonly known as Snake-flies, 

 from the elongated form of the head and neck, and the facility 

 with which they move the front of the body in different direc- 

 tions. They are of comparatively small size, agile in their 

 movements, and possessing powerful jaws ; they are chiefly 

 found in the neighbourhood of woods and streams ; and they 

 prey upon other insects inhabiting the same situations. Finally, 

 the MANTISPIDJE seem to connect this order with the preceding ; 

 having the mouth formed upon the plan of that of the Neurop- 

 tera ; but having the fore-legs converted into prehensile claws, 

 and the first segment of the thorax lengthened so as to elevate 

 them, almost exactly as in the Mantis. 



681. We shall next mention the small intermediate group of 

 PHRYGANEID^, or Caddice-flies, which are by some Entomolo- 

 gists regarded as constituting an aberrant family of the Neu- 

 roptera, whilst others raise them into the rank of a distinct 

 Order, TRICHOPTERA, a name derived from the hairy covering 



