Cl 
NEUROPTERA. 
B. It tj emails, so called from appearing in tlie winter when 
“ the cold north wind doth blow.” This insect is of 
small size, with long legs and body, like the larva of the 
grasshopper; it is, I believe, not a common insect, but 
from its small size, and its living under moss and stones, 
and in snow, at such a season of the year when Ento¬ 
mologists are arranging their cabinets rather than 
collecting, it may be more frequently to be met with 
than is supposed. 
The Rapkidlidce or Snake-flies, have their prothorax 
lengthened into a slender neck, terminated by a broad 
and flattened head. The female has a long ovipositor; 
and the whole appearance is certainly not inviting. A 
modern Entomologist once received a specimen of a 
Snake-fly {Raphidia ophiopsis, one of the largest British 
species', with an urgent request that he would give his 
opinion as to the probable extent of the injury which a 
baby, on whose face it w r as found, might have received. 
Though the insect is uninviting, it is harmless. The 
Snake-flies are predaceous, feeding on other insects; 
they are to be found near woods and streams. 
The Sialidcc, a family consisting of a few species, is 
represented in this county by the well-known orl or Alder- 
fly of the angler. This is the Stalls lutarius of a brown 
colour, and with wings very strongly veined, and shelving 
into a kind of roof (Fig. 7). It is excessively common in 
spring and early summer, and numbers may readily be 
picked off the stems or leaves of plants on which they have 
settled, so sluggish are they in their movements. The 
female is larger and fatter than the male: she deposits her 
eggs on the leaves and stems of water plants. These clus¬ 
ters of eggs are very pretty objects; they are of a reddish 
