428 



THE INSECT WOELD. 



The Panorpatce constitute a singular little family, having a 

 peculiar shaped head, which is prolonged to a sort of long and 

 slender beak. Aristotle called them Scorpion flies, and thought 

 they were winged scorpions. The Panorpas, properly so called 

 (Fig. 409), are found on hedges and plants during the summer. 

 They have slim bodies spotted with yellow and black, and four 

 straight wings, also spotted with black. In the males, the abdo- 

 men terminates in a pair of pincers (Fig. 410), which rather 



\ 



Fig. 409. Panorpa, male and female. 



remind one of the tail of a scorpion, and which are destined to 

 seize dragon- flies, which they kill by piercing with their beak. 

 The female lays her eggs in the ground (Fig. 411). In a week, 

 the larva makes its appearance ; it is a month in developing, it 

 then buries itself still deeper in the earth, and changes into a 



Fig. 410. Pincer of male Panorpa. Fig. 411. Female Panorpa laying. 



pupa, which, after a fortnight, comes again into the light in the 

 form of a perfect insect. There are two other genera of Panor- 

 patce, of which Bittacus tipularis (Fig. 412) resembling a 

 large gnat, furnished with four wings and Boreus hyemalis 

 (Fig. 413) of a brilliant black, met with in Sweden and 

 in the elevated parts of the Alps, jumping about on the snow, 



