Libellula depressa. 



CHAPTER X. 

 NEUROPTERA, OR LACE-WINGED INSECTS. 



IN the two larger orders (the Coleoptera and Ortho- 

 ptera) through which we have already passed, we have 

 found the insects, although presenting numerous 

 diversities of greater or less importance, still retain- 

 ing a strong mutual resemblance in all their most 

 essential characters, as for example in the structure 

 of the mouth, and in the nature of their metamor- 

 phosis. In the insects which, in accordance with 

 common custom, we must refer to the present order, 

 this is no longer the case, for some of them undergo 

 a complete, others an incomplete metamorphosis, and 

 the organization of the mouth in some groups renders 

 it a most formidable apparatus, whilst in others it 

 appears to be totally unfitted for biting purposes. 



