NEUROPTERA : CHARACTERS. 



367 



pellicle in which they had been pre\dously enveloped. In some 

 the pupa state is inactive, and inclosed in a cocoon formed by 

 the larvae, as in Hemerobius, Myrmeleon, &c. The Termitidee, 

 or white ants, offer as curious an instance of departure from 

 the type of the order as do some of the ApideB in the order 



Hymenoptera, there be- 

 ing three kinds of indi- 

 /^ f i -"s*!^ f viduals exclusive of the 



/ ^^ ^^^''^'''"'"t-^^^a active larvae and pupae. 



The transformations of 

 Panorpa are unknown. 

 In the imago state the 

 duration of life is vari- 

 able, some species, as 

 many of the Ephemeri- 

 dce, being but the creatures of a day, or even of a still less period. 

 There is also very considerable diversity in the size of these 



White Ants : 1, Worker- 



3, Queen in the first or winged state— , ditto, filled \^-ith eggs. 



insects ; some of the LihellididcB being amongst the largest 

 of om- insects, whilst some of the HemerobiidcB or Psocidce 

 are very minute, but not so minute as the smallest Hyme- 

 noptera or Coleoptera. The smallest insect in the order is 



