•J6 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOaY. 



THE DRAGOK FLY. 



1. Identify the body divisions. 



2. Study the eyes, antennse, mandibles, maxillae, 

 palpi. 



3. Study the wings. Note the pterostigma, near 

 the tip, and the short cross-vein, the nodus, near the 

 base. Count the cells and long veins. Draw. 



4. Identify the parts of the leg. 



5. How many segments in the abdomen? Do you 

 find spiracles? Is there any sting? 



6. Draw the larva. What kind of metamorphosis 

 has the dragon fly? 



Additional Facts About the Dragou Fly. 



The dragon fly belongs to the Linnsean order 

 Neuroptera. The name means nerve wings, and is 

 given because of the great number of veins in the 

 wings. In some parts of the country it is called 

 devil's darning-needle, and is said to sew up the ears 

 of bad children ; but the devil has a proprietary 

 interest in so many of these insects that the name is 

 not svifficiently distinctive. 'It is also called snake 

 doctor, from the fact that it is frequently seen hover- 

 ing over the body of a dead snake, and so some 

 people suppose it is restoring the dead snake to life. 

 Really, it is engaged in catching the flies that are 

 attracted 1o the body of the dead snake. A better 

 name is mosqviito hawk, for it is among insects what 

 a hawk is among birds. It is probably the strong- 

 est and swiftest flier among insects. Whetlier it is 

 a larva, a puj^a, or an imago, it is the enemy of the 

 mosquito. 



The eggs are laid in the Avater, and there the dragon 

 fly undergoes all its transformations until it reaches 

 t))e imago stage. There are two kinds of dragon flies. 



