614 NEUROPTEKA. 



pieces, a tergite, two sternal scales, and two appendages articu- 

 lated to the tergal piece. * . 



M. Lacaze-Duthiers does not extend the comparison of the 

 ovipositor of Panorpa to those of Podura and Smynthnrus, but 

 we can see how easy the transition is. Only let the long flexi- 

 ble ovipositor of Panorpa be permanently extended, which in 

 insects usually involves its being bent and appressed to the 

 under side of the abdomen, and with a few other slight modifi- 

 cations we have the leaping ovipositor of the Podura and its 

 allies ! 



The larva is terrestrial, as Stein has found the pupa buried an 

 inch deep in moist earth, at the foot of an alder stump. (West- 

 wood.) Brauer states that the larva is long, cylindrical, with 

 long filaments arising from tubercles 

 on the body. In its general appear- 

 ance it resembles certain caterpillars, 

 and also Ph^ganeid larvae. P. ru- 

 fescens Rambur (Fig. 605, enlarged) 

 is the most common form in New 

 England. It is of a yellowish red 

 color, with the antennae black, except the three or four basal 

 joints which are reddish. It is about half an inch long and 

 the wings expand an inch. 



The Tipula-like genus Bittacus, though it has four wings, is, 

 in its remarkably slender body and long legs, much like the 

 Crane-flies. There are seven species in this country, one of 

 which, B. pilicornis Westwood, has been found in Canada and 

 New York. The winter insect, Boreus, is wingless in the fe- 

 male sex, and in its habits and form as well as its minute size, 

 reminds us strikingly of Podura and Lepisma, though the re- 

 semblance has not to our knowledge been specially noticed by 

 entomologists. In this genus the ocelli are absent, and the 

 males have very imperfect style-like wings, while the females 

 are entirely wingless. "The abdomen of the female is termi- 

 nated by a three-jointed ovipositor, the under side of which is 

 defended by a produced valve-like bilobed plate arising from 

 the under side of the seventh segment. The male has the 

 abdomen terminated by two short, recurved, attenuated, pilose 

 styles." (Westwood.) In this description we are reminded of 



