NEUROPTERA. 197 
are tectiform; the last joint of the palpi is thickest, ovoid and pointed. 
The larve are terrestrial. They form the genus 
Hemerosius, Lat., 
Or Hemerobius, properly so called, also styled Demoiselles terres- 
tres. Their hody is soft, and the globular eyes are frequently orna- 
mented with metallic colours; the wings are large, and their exterior 
border is widened. They fly slowly and heavily; several diffuse a 
strong feecal odour, with which the fmger that has touched them re- 
mains for a long time impregnated. 
The female deposits ten or twelve eggs on leaves; they are oval, 
white, and secured by a very long and capillary pedicle. Some 
authors have mistaken them for a species of mushroom. ‘The larvze 
bear a considerable resemblance to those of the preceding division ; 
they are, however, more elongated and errant. Reaumur calls them 
Lions des Pucerons because they feed on Aphides. They seize them 
with their horn-like mandibles, and soon exhaust them by suction, 
Some form a thick case for themselves of their remains, which gives 
them a very singular appearance. The nymph is enclosed in a silken 
coccon of an extremely close tissue, the volume of which is very 
small when compared with that of the Insect. ‘The fusi of the larvee 
are situated at the posterior extremity of the abdomen, like those of 
the larvee of the Myrmeleonides. 
H. perla, L.; Rees., Insect., 1, Suppl., xxi, 4, 5. Green- 
yellow; eyes golden; wings transparent, with entirely green 
nervures *. 
The H. maculatus, Fab., has three little ocelli, while in all the 
rest of the species they are wanting. It forms the genus 
Osmyus, Lat. + 
The same character is presented in the genus 
Nympues, Leach, 
Established on certain Insects from New Holland; but here the 
antenne are filiform and shorter f. 
In the others the first segment of the thorax is large, and the wings 
are laid horizontally on the body; the palpi are-filiform, and the last 
jeint is conical or almost cylindrical, and frequently shorter than the 
preceding one. The larve are aquatic. | 
Fabricius unites them with the species of the genus Perla of 
* Add Hemerobius filosus aud the albus, capitatus, phalenoides, nitidulus, hirtus, 
Suscatus, humuli, variegatus, and nervosus, Fab. See Lat., Gen. Crust. et Insect., 
III, p. 196. 
+ Lat., Ibid. 
+t Nymphes myrmeleonides, Leach, Zool. Miscell., xlv. Perhaps it may have six 
palpi, and in that case it belongs to the preceding division. 
