NEUROPTERA. 409 



The semi-nymph only differs from the larva in the presence of the caies 

 which enclose the wings. When the moment of their development has arrived, 

 it leaves the water, and having changed its skin, appears under a new form 

 but, by a very singular exception, it has still to experience a second change cf 

 tegument. 



The ultimate exuvium of these insects is frequently found on trees and 

 walls ; they sometimes even leave them on the clothes of persons who may be 

 walking in their vicinity. 



FAMILY II. 



PLANIPENNES*. 



THIS family comprises those Neuroptera in which the antennae, always inul- 

 tiarculated, are much longer than the head, without being subulate or styli- 

 form. Their mandibles are very distinct ; their inferior wings almost equal 

 to the superior ones, and extended or simply folded underneath at their 

 anterior margin. 



Their wings are almost always much reticulated and naked ; their maxillary 

 palpi are usually filiform or somewhat thicker at the extremity, shorter than 

 the head, and composed of from four to five joints. 



I will divide this family into five sections, which, by reason of the habits 

 of the insects that compose them, form as many small sub-families. 



1. The PANORPATVE of Latreille, which have five joints to all the tarsi, and 

 the anterior extremity of their head prolonged and narrowed in the form of 

 a rostrum or proboscis. 



They constitute the genus 



PANORPA, Linneeus, Fabricius, 



Where the antennae are setaceous and inserted between the eyes ; the clypeus 

 is prolonged into a conical, corneous lamina, arched above to cover the mouth ; 

 and the mandibles, maxillae, and labium are almost linear. They have from 

 four to six short, filiform palpi. 



Their body is elongated, the head vertical, the first segment of the trunk 

 usually very small, in the form of a collar, and the abdomen conical or almost 

 cyh'ndrical. 



There is much difference between the two sexes in several species. Their 

 metamorphoses have not yet been observed. 



P. communis, Lin. From seven to eight lines in length ; black ; rostrum 

 and extremity of the abdomen russet ; wings spotted with black. On hedges 

 and in woods. 



* Flat-winged. 



