34 NEUROPTERA. 



fined to its connexion with its mate ? The head 

 also is prolonged into a beak, that might lead 

 us to suppose the insect robbed the nectaries 

 of flowers, if we were not aware that its habits 

 are carnivorous, that it lives by rapine, and that 

 it feeds on small flies, and other dipterous in- 

 sects. 



The Panorpae appear at the end of the 

 spring and during the summer in meadows, in 

 woods, and in moist and shady places. They 

 avoid the heat of the sun ; and although they 

 have ample wings and strong muscles to put 

 them in motion, they fly but to a short dis- 

 tance, and that seemingly with difficulty. Some- 

 times they will hardly take the trouble to expand 

 their wings, but, upon the .approach of danger, 

 glide beneath the bushes, and conceal them- 

 selves from sight. 



We have no knowledge of their larvae, and 

 cannot say whether they are aquatic, or live 

 in the interior of vegetables, or seek their prey 

 upon the surface of the earth. 



