49 



THE SCORPION-FLIES. 



then suddenly 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 be 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 as to fit into his pocket, and can be rapidly protruded or withdrawn very like the in- 

 strument 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 of ex- 

 istence, 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 stem 

 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 colors. 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 colors is to remove all the interior 

 of the body, and to introduce paint of the proper colors. This, however, is but an em- 

 pirical 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 colors, 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 uncolored. Another form of Dragon-fly may be seen on 

 the illustration at page 463, and is given as 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 abdomen rather slender, and capable of 



VARIEGATED DRAUON-FLY.-Ute//u/a variegate. 



