NERVE -WINGED OR LACE -WINGED INSECTS 303 
plants. In colour it is pale grepn, with a peculiar milky appearance, and the eyes glow as 
though .lighted by an inward fire. The wings are so closely and elaborately veined that 
they look like a piece of the, most delicate lace-work. It is not advisable to handle the insect, 
for, although perfectly harmless, it possesses the power of pouring, out from its body a liquid 
of the most horrible odour, which clings to the fingers in spite of repeated ablutions. 
The life-history of The . lacewing-fly , is very curious. When the maternal insect lays her 
eggs, she first deposits a drop of a highly glutinous fluid upon a leaf or slender twig, and 
then, with an upward jerk of her long body, draws it out into a slender thread. On contact 
with the air this thread immediately hardens, and just as she releases her hold the fly attaches 
a single egg to the tip. In this way 200 or 300 eggs are laid together in a little cluster, 
which looks just like a tiny patch of moss. In the earlier botanical manuals, indeed, it was 
actually named, figured, and described as a moss. 
The grubs which hatch out from these eggs feed upon plant-lice, of which they devour 
vast numbers, draining the juices by means of their 
hollow, jaws, and then fastening the empty -skins on 
their own backs, as an American Indian might decorate 
himself with the scalps of his victims. Owing to this 
singular habit, the grub becomes perfectly unrecognis- 
able after the first few days of its life, only the jaws and 
feet being, visible beneath the pile of dry skins. When 
fully fed, it changes to the pupal condition in a silken 
cocoon, which it attaches to a leaf, and the perfect insect 
makes its appearance in the course of a few days. 
The Alder-flies, in general appearance, are not 
unlike caddis-flies, but may easily be distinguished by the 
fact that the wings are not longitudinally folded while at 
rest. They are very abundant in the neighbourhood of 
ponds and small streams, where they may be seen flying 
slowly and heavily, or resting on low herbage or the foliage 
of trees and bushes. The female insect lays her eggs in 
clusters of 300 or 400 on the leaves of water-plants, 
and the little grubs make their way down into the water 
immediately on hatching out, where they creep about on 
the mud at the bottom in search of the tiny creatures on 
which they feed. When full-grown, they are about an 
inch in length. They then leave the water and bury 
themselves in the earth, where they change to pupae, 
the perfect insects emerging in June or July. 
The Caddis-flies, of which there are many British representatives, belong to the Hairy- 
winged group. The larv^ of these insects are entirely aquatic, and remind one of hermit-crabs, 
the front part of the body being clothed with horny armour, while the hinder part is entirely 
unprotected. In order to escape the attacks of predaceous insects these grubs construct cases 
round their bodies, which they drag about wherever they go. In one or two instances, 
however, the case is attached to the lower surface of a stone. 
The materials of which these cases are made vary in accordance with the species. In one 
group, for instance, they consist of pieces of twigs and leaves, cut into short lengths, and arranged 
side by side in such a manner as to form a spiral band. The larva of another kind uses entire 
leaves, gluing them firmly together and living between them. A third species employs grains of 
sand and tiny stones, which it arranges in the form of a cow’s horn. Most curious of all, however, 
is the case of a caddis-fly which is made entirely of the shells of water-snails. As these shells are, 
as a rule, still tenanted by their owners, the snails may sometimes be seen attempting to crawl 
simultaneously in half a dozen different directions, while the grub is dragging them in a seventh. 
i 
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Photo by iV. P. Dando^ F.Z.S.., RcgenPs Park 
LARGE CADDIS-FLY 
The largest species measures about an inch and a half 
across the ivitigs 
