NEUROPTERA. 



223 



in the eastern states, and they are occasionally found in 

 ponds in the West. The adult form is the form more 

 commonly found, however, because the small boy in the 

 West more often uses angleworms for bait, and so does 

 not discover the dobsons till later in life. The adult has a 

 wing spread of more than four inches, the wings are 

 translucent with veins showing quite 

 plainly, and irregularly spotted with light 

 and dark. The hind wings are larger 

 than the front wings and are enlarged 

 considerably at the angle next to the 

 body ; hence, when folded, they are some- 

 what plaited, while the front wings lie 

 flat above them. 



The dobsons have a very long im- 

 mature stage, two years and eleven 

 months, all spent in the water, hunting 

 fiercely for May fly and stone fly larvas. 

 The pupal stage covers another month; 

 hence the insect consumes three years in 

 growing to adulthood in size and power. 

 The insect having the longest immature 

 period is probably the seventeen-year cicada, which re- 

 mains in its underground burrow, feeding on plant roots, 

 for seventeen years. The male of the dobsons has the 

 mandibles developed into long curved organs standing far 

 out in front of the head; in the female the mandibles are 

 less prominent. (Fig. 92.) 



Here also are to be found the false rear horses, insects 

 much resembling the praying mantids among the Orth- 

 optera. Their long front legs, by which they catch their 

 prey, look very much like the queer "hands" of the pray- 

 ing mantis when he perches on your magazine cover and 



Fig. 91. — Larva of 

 a dobson. [Kellogg.) 



