I08 ADVENTURES OF A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



much, and, as he was letting them run about on his hand, he 

 saw them jump off and disappear. He was just going to return to 

 the shrub on which he had caught them, when his attention was 

 attracted by an immense dragon-fly, commonly called in Mexico 

 the devil's horse, and in France demoiselle. The beautiful insect, 

 after flying round and round, settled on a plant, and was imme- 

 diately caught in the young hunter's net. The prisoner had 

 greenish eyes, a yellow body, and its wings were dotted over with 

 black and scarlet. It doubled back its tapering body, as if to try 

 and sting the hand which held it, and shook its gauzy wings with 

 a kind of metallic sound. A half-eaten musquito hung out of its 

 mouth, and, although the dragon-fly was sadly bruised, it continued 

 its meal much to the amusement of Lucien, who hardly expected to 

 find such tiger-like habits in an insect so elegant in form and so 

 harmless in appearance. 



" It is of the order Neuroptera," I said to him ; " thus called 

 because of the veins on its four wings. This insect first lives in 

 the water in the form of a larva, in which state it remains a 

 year — it is very much like the insect you are holding, only, all 

 that can be seen of its wings are small swellings, which grow 

 longer each time the animal changes its skin. This swelling is a 

 sort of sheath to the beautiful gauzy wings which distinguish all 

 the neuroptera, and the dragon-fly in particular.'' 



" What ! does the dragon-fly begin its life by living in water 

 like a fish?" 



" Yes, and they are quite as voracious in that state as when 

 they are perfect insects. The larva changes to a grub, and 

 greedily devours water-lizards and young fish; after a certain 

 time, which varies according to the species, it rises to the top of 

 the water by crawling up a reed, and remains perfectly motion- 

 less, exposed to the rays of the sun ; suddenly, the skin covering 

 the head bursts open, and the dragon-fly, spotted with black, 

 blue, and green, takes flight, and loses no time in darting upon 

 the first insect which comes within its reach." 



My lecture was interrupted by the cry of " Holloa ! holloa ! " 

 from I'Encuerado. It was his substitute for a dinner-bell. 



