CADDIS- WOEMS AND THEIR METAMORPHOSES. 
293 
groups, after the manner of gnats. “From the weak structure 
of the mouth,” Professor Westwood observes, ‘‘it is evident 
they can live but a very short time in the perfect state, taking 
no nourishment, and only anxious to continue their species.” 
The same naturalist states that the females deposit their eggs 
in a double gelatinous mass, which is of a green colour, and is 
retained for a considerable time at the extremity of the body ; 
the mass is subsequently attached to the surface of some aquatic 
plant, and Mr. Hyndman has observed the female of Phryganea 
grandis creep down the stems of plants under the water very 
nearly a foot deep, for the purpose of depositing its ora. “ On 
being disturbed, it swam vigorously beneath the water to some 
other plants ; its bundle of eggs was found to be of an oblong 
form, bent in the middle, and the two ends attached to the tail 
of the animal.” I may here remark, that a few summers ago I 
distinctly saw a female of the small and very common dragon fly 
i^Agrion) deliberately enter the water, and run down the stem 
of some water plant, no doubt for the purpose of depositing her 
eggs. Ordinarily, however, these dragon flies alight on some 
aquatic weed, as on the leaf of a potamogeton, and bending their 
long pliable bodies under it, there lay their eggs. I am thus en- 
abled to confirm Mr. Patterson’s account, which describes the 
female Agriones entering the water for ovoposition (see “Ent. 
Transact.” i. p. 82, app.) Westwood thinks that the genus Phry- 
ganea forms the connecting link between the Lepidoptera and the 
Neuroptera ; several naturalists, indeed, consider this family to 
belong to the Neuropterous order ; but Professor Westwood is in- 
clined to think they have their strongest affinities with the Lepido- 
ptera. “Not only,” he says, “are the veins of the wings arranged 
upon the plan of the Lepidopterous wings ; the general habit of 
the insects, the structure of the legs, coxae, calcaria, and man- 
dibles, as noticed by Kirby, and indeed, the general rudimental 
form of the mouth being similar; and what is more import- 
ant, the internal structure of the larvae, as noticed by De Gfeer, 
agrees with that of the Lepidopterous larvae rather than with 
the NeuropteraP The usual colour of the insects of this 
group is grey, or brown ; according to Westwood, a few only 
from extra-European countries have been brought to England ; 
some of these exotic species are ornamented with spots - and 
markings. 
The genera of the perfect insects are thus distinguished : — 
Phryganea (Latr.) has the maxillary palpi of moderate size 
and slightly pubescent; those in the male three-jointed, the last 
ovate ; the antennae of moderate size, equal in length to the 
wings ; the anterior wings with transverse nerves in the wings, 
the inferior wings folded. 
The following table, given by Pictet, will show the characters 
