70 MANDIBULATA. NEUROl'TERA. 



Sp. 8. Virgo. Pallidum, oculis 7iigris,femoribus anticis versus apicem obscuris, 

 alls hyalinis. (Exp. Alar. 5 lin. ; Long. corp. 2 lin.; 1. set. 3 lin.) 



Eph. Virgo. Olivier.— CI. Virgo. Steph. Catal. 307. No. 3409. 



Pale : eyes black ; filaments longer than the body, immaculate ; legs pale, 

 anterior pair moderate, their femora obscure towards the apex ; wings 

 hyaline, colourless. 



Inhabits the vicinity of London, in June. 



Section III.^LIBELLULINA, Mac Leay. 



AntenncB short, awl-shaped, inserted between the eyes, consisting of from five 

 to seven joints, the two basal ones mostly largest, the remainder forming a 

 hair-like style: mouth ample : mandibles powerful, horny, robust, 3-gonate, 

 more or less dentate : muxillcE crustaceous, compressed, strong : head large, 

 hemispheric or transverse: eyes very large : ocelli three, placed triangularly, 

 or in a straight line : wings equal, or the posterior pair sometimes the largest, 

 all very thickly reticulated, placed erect (during repose), or extended hori- 

 zontally : abdomen very long, cylindric, or slightly clavate, sometimes de- 

 pressed, not furnished with setae at the apex, but in the males with forcipated 

 or lamellated appendages : legs short, inflexed anteriorly : tibice angulated, 

 ciliated : tarsi 3-jointed, cylindric. Metamorphosis triple. 



This section comprises a race of insects no less distinguished by 

 their pre-eminent voracity than by their gigantic stature ; some of the 

 species being amongst the largest of the indigenous insects. The 

 larvae and pupa are aquatic, and somewhat resemble the perfect 

 insect, except in wanting wings ; they subsist upon other insects, and 

 are extremely voracious ; their oral organs are in part combined into 

 a sort of mask, concealing the face, and with which they are enabled 

 to seize their prey with great facility. 



They may be divided into the two following families, thus curso- 

 rily distinguished : — 



Copwi transversum (a^« erectse) : . . ' . .1. AgrioniDjE. 



hemisphaericum (aZ<2 horizontaliter extensEe) : . . 2. LiBELLULiDiE. 



Family I.— AGRIONID^, Leach. 



Head transverse, much broader than the thorax, not vesicular above : eyes 

 remote, semiglobose : ocelli placed in a triangle : wings erect, narrow : 

 abdomen linear-cylindric, slender, and sometimes very long ; of the males 

 occasionally with a forcipated appendage at the apex. 



The larvEE and pupse are long and slender, rather gradually attenuated to the 



