186 THE NEUROPTERA. 



recognizable, and the two hinder ones bear each a 

 pair of membranous and usually reticulated wings, as 

 already described. The legs are generally of mode- 

 rate length, and the tarsi are composed of from two 

 to five joints. The abdomen varies greatly in form ; 

 its apex is often furnished with long jointed filaments, 

 and sometimes with other appendages, but never with 

 a sting or ovipositor composed of several valves. 



The larvae of these insects, even those whose meta- 

 morphosis is the most incomplete, present less resem- 

 blance to their parents than is the case in the Or- 

 thoptera, whilst in those which undergo a complete 

 metamorphosis, the larva is almost as different from 

 the perfect insect as the grub of a beetle, or the 

 caterpillar of a butterfly. In the former the pupa is 

 of course active, in the latter it is quiescent, and 

 often enveloped in a cocoon, but creeps out of its 

 hiding-place before undergoing its last change. 



Starting from this difference in the metamorphosis 

 we may easily divide the Neuroptera into two sections, 

 in one of which this change is incomplete, whilst in 

 the other it is complete, and the latter may be again 

 divided into two groups from characters presented by 

 the perfect insects. These three sections may be 

 regarded as suborders, for the first of which, in- 

 cluding the Neuroptera with an incomplete metamor- 

 phosis, we may adopt Burmeister's name of 



DlCTYOTOPTERA, 



which refers to the greatly reticulated structure of 

 the wings in the most typical species*. 



It is in this group, as might be expected, that we 

 meet with the nearest allies of the Orthoptera; in 

 * Gr. diktuotos, reticulated, pteron, a wing. 



