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Order IV. — Neuroptera. 
As has been seen by the brief synoptical view given 
on a former page, this order is essentially charac- 
terised by a mouth organised for gnawing, and four 
naked membranous wings of equal consistency — that 
is, the superior pair are not thickened for the purpose 
of protecting the others, as is the case with the orders 
hitherto described. To these must be added, in order 
to render the definition exclusive of some of the fol- 
lowing orders, that the wings are reticulated or in- 
terlaced with a delicate net-work — a character indi- 
cated by the name, which is derived from veugov, a 
nerve, with the ordinary postfix. 
All the wings are fully fitted for flight, and in the 
majority of cases both pairs are of equal size, as we 
see them in dragon-flies. But in some tribes the 
Posterior pair are smaller than the others, (in this 
respect resembling the Hymenoptera,) and in a few 
cases they entirely disappear.* The reticulations are 
finer and denser in some than in others, but they are 
always too numerous, variable, and minute to be 
available for the purposes of classification, like the 
cells of the Hymenoptera. When at rest their position 
is various, but most commonly they are extended at 
right angles from the body, nearly in the same man- 
ner as they are borne during flight. In other cases, 
the upper pair are incumbent on the lower, and de- 
flexed at the sides. It might at once be inferred 
* In Neuroptera the hinder wings assume a remarkable 
form, being long and linear, extending behind the insect like 
two tails. 
