4IO 



NEUROPTERA 



manner as a triangle on the vertex ; but in the forms where 

 the compound eyes are very large the portion of the head 

 between is, as it were, puffed out so as to form a projection just 

 in front of where the eyes meet, and one ocellus is then placed 

 on each side of this projection, an antenna being inserted quite 

 close to it ; the third ocellus is placed in front of the projection 



Fig. 260. ^Anaxformosus, Britain. (After Migneaux.] 

 natural position.) 



(Tlie legs are not in i 



we have mentioned, by which it is often much concealed ; this 

 anterior ocellus is in some cases of unusually large size, and oval 

 or transverse in form. 



The parts of the mouth are very peculiar, especially the 

 lower lip : we will briefly allude to its characters in the highly 

 modified forms, premising that in the smaller and less active 

 species it is less remarkable. The Libellulidae are carnivorous, 

 their prey being living Insects which are captured by the dragon- 

 fly on the wing ; it is believed that the mouth is largely instru- 

 mental in the capture, though the flight of these Insects is so 

 excessively rapid that it is difficult, if not impossible, to verify 



