490 



THE SCOKPION-FLIES. 



moved into the air, the force with which it expels the contained water will drive it to a 

 distance of three or four inches. 



Such are its means of locomotion ; those of attack are not less remarkable or less 

 efficacious. 



The lower lip, instead of being a simple cover to the mouth, is developed into a strange- 

 jointed organ, which can be shot out to the distance of nearly an inch ; or when at rest, 

 can bo folded flat over the face, much as a carpenter's rule can be shut up so as to fit into 

 his pocket, and can be rapidly protruded or withdrawn very like the instrument called 

 a " lazy-tongs." Like that instrument, it is furnished at its extremity with a pair of 

 forceps, and is able to grasp at passing objects with the swiftness and certainty of a 

 serpent's stroke. 



The creature remains for some ten or eleven months in the preliminary stages ef 

 existence, and when the insect is about to make its final change, the undeveloped wings 



become visible on the back. When 

 its time has come, the pupa leaves 

 the water, and crawls up the stern 

 of some aquatic plant until it has 

 reached a suitable elevation ; it 

 clings firmly with its claws, and 

 remains apparently quiet. On ap- 

 proaching it, however, a violent 

 internal agitation is perceptible, 

 and presently the skin of the back 

 splits along the middle, and the 

 Dragon-fly protrudes its head and 

 part of the thorax. By degrees, 

 it withdraws itself from the empty 

 skin, and sits for a few hours dry- 

 ing itself, and shaking out the 

 innumerable folds into which the 

 wide gauzy wings have been 

 gathered. After a series of deep 

 respirations of the unwonted air, 

 and much waving of the wings, 

 the glittering membranes gain 

 strength and elasticity, and the 

 enfranchised insect launches forth 

 into the air in search of prey and 

 a mate. 



There are very many species of Dragon-flies, all very similar in their habits, being 

 fiercely predaceous, strong of wing, and gifted with glittering colours. Unfortunately, the 

 rich azure, deep green, soft carnation, or fiery scarlet, of these insects fade with their life, 

 and in a few hours after death the most brilliant Dragon-fly will have faded to a blackish 

 brown. The only mode of preserving the colours is to remove all the interior of the body, 

 and to introduce paint of the proper colours. This, however, is but an empirical and 

 unsatisfactory sort of proceeding ; and no matter how skilfully it may be achieved, will 

 never be worth the time bestowed upon it. In many species, the sexes are of different 

 colours, as, for example, in the beautiful DEMOISELLE DRAGON" -FLIES, where the male is 

 deep purple, with dark spots on the wings, and the female a rich green, with the wings 

 uncoloured. Another form of Dragon-fly may be seen on the illustration at page 463. 

 and is given a.s an example of the restricted genus Libellula. 



THE singular group of insects termed SCORPION-FLIES or PANORPID.E, also belong to 

 this family. These insects derive their popular name from the curious appendage with 

 which the abdomen of some of the species is armed. The male of the common Scorpion- 

 fly has the sixth and seventh rings of the abdornsn rather slender, and capable of 



VARIEGATED DRAGON-FLY. Lilttlula vantgdtn.. 



