On the grass, to the left, is one of the common brown Crane-flies Tipula 

 oleracea), distinguished as a female by her pointed ovipositor. In flight, above, 

 is a male of the same species, and below, in the earth, another, in its state of 

 grubhood, employed in devouring the grass roots, on which, in its earliest 

 stage, it is accustomed to feed. On the right, above, is a handsome Crane-fly 

 (Ctenophara), with black and yellow markings and plumed antennae. 



FATHER LONGLEGS AND HIS FAMILY. 



jEXT to the butterfly and the ladybird, we may 

 perhaps assign a place among the insect fami- 

 liars of our childhood, to that ungainly skipper 

 best known to us, wheresoever w r e may meet 

 him " upstairs or downstairs or in my lady's 

 chamber " as " Old Father Longlegs." 



Our book-learning may have possibly made us acquainted 

 with him, since, under the more refined epithet of Tipula or 

 Crane-fly; but call the creature by what name we may 



