NEPA. 103 



the want of wings. Their habits are the same, 

 and their appetite for other insects equally vo- 

 racious. The larva of the common Water 

 Scorpion (Nepa cinerea) proceeds from an egg 

 of a very singular form. It is oval, and from 

 one end proceed seven delicate filaments, which 

 give it the appearance of some of the seeds of 

 plants belonging to the class Syngenesia. Swam- 

 merdam, who has described and figured these 

 eggs, speaks of their arrangement in the ova- 

 ria, which are five in number, on each side 

 the abdomen of the female. He says they are 

 so disposed, that the filament of, that nearest 

 the orifice, embraces the egg which is to fol- 

 low, which again is entangled with the one be- 

 hind, and so on to the last. The eggs of the 

 Nepa linearis differ from the above, in having 

 but two filaments at the end. 



SPECIFICATION. 



Neta linearis. N. linearis, manibus spina late- 

 rali pollicatis. Linn.Syst. Nat. l.p. 714. Gmel. 1. 

 p. 2122. Fabr. Syst. Ent.p. 692. Spec. Ins. 2. 

 p. 334. Mant. Ins. 2. p. 277. 



