PANORPID^;. 613 



than in Myrmeleon. The eggs when laid are hedged around 

 by little pales like a fence "and are so placed that nothing can 

 approach the brood ; nor can the young ramble abroad till they 

 have acquired strength to resist the ants and other insect ene- 

 mies. The abdomen of the larva is depressed and oval, with 

 ten pectinations on each side." (Westwood.) It closely re- 

 sembles that of Myrmeleon. McLachlan states that the eggs 

 of Ascalaphus macaronius were observed by Kollar deposited 

 on a grass stem. Ascalaphus hyalinus Latr. is found in the 

 Southern States and Mexico. 



PANORPID^E Leach. This family is interesting as affording 

 a passage from the winged Neuroptera to the degraded wing- 

 less forms which are often excluded from the suborder by 

 writers, and placed apart by themselves under the title of 

 'Thysanura. Hagen thus defines the group : " body cylindri- 

 cal or conical ; head exserted ; antennae shorter than the wings ; 

 mouth rostrated ; lateral palpi biarticulated ; prothorax small ; 

 wings either almost absent or narrow, equal, longer than the 

 body, narrowed at base ; the posterior wings with no anal 

 space ; tarsi of five joints." 



In Panorpa, the Scorpion Fly, so called from the long for- 

 ceps-like tip of the male abdomen, there are three ocelli and 

 the wings are narrow. The genital organs of the male are 

 greatly lengthened out, and are forcipated, with the last seg- 

 ment inflated ; the two tarsal hooks are serrated, and the an- 

 tennae are bristle-like. 



Lacaze-Duthiers selects the ovipositor of Panorpa as being 

 an intermediate type, as regards complexity, between Libellula 

 and ^Eschna. "When disturbed, the female of Panorpa Ger- 

 manica or communis, darts out a long slender tube towards 

 the disturbing object. Soon a little drop of a . whitish liquid 

 appears at its extremity ; it is a means of defence. While at 

 rest the conical abdomen, terminating in a point, appears to 

 be composed of a less number of segments." At first sight 

 there seems to be but two, though in reality there are three 

 segments between the oviduct and the anal outlet, since the 

 ninth ring is very small and partly aborted, being concealed 

 beneath the others. The eleventh segment consists of five 



