150 
NETJROPTERA. 
Westw. is one of the commoner species, a very noticeable insect, 
figured and described in 1847 (Cab, Or. Ent., pi. XXIV, fig. 4). M. par- 
dalis F. and M. Punctatus F. from the East Indies are figured in 
Donovan’s Insects of India. 
Ascalaphince —Differ from Myrmeleoninse in having long antennae, 
also clubbed. 
Fig. 69 .—Helicomitus dic-ax. 
This small family is at once recognisable in the winged stage. The 
insects are of the same general structure as the Myrmeleonince , but with 
long antennae held straight out from the head, clubbed at the tip. The 
wings are less elongated and only with few markings. The eyes are 
usually divided across by a distinct line as if the upper and lower 
halves functioned separately. 
The life history differs in detail only from that of the Myrmeleonince 
so far as is known. The eggs were found laid on a lucerne stem, a num¬ 
ber of little eggs in a row; each egg is cylindrical and truncate at the 
ends. Small active larvae emerged, whose appearance is best learnt from 
the figure. They were fed on aphides, the aphides being seized in the 
sharp mandibles and sucked out. These larvae died as the right food or 
conditions had not been found. (Others are being reared on a greater 
variety of insects). Other similar larva3 are found leading a free life in the 
fields ; the thorax is broadly joined to the abdomen, the head not mov- 
ably jointed to the thorax as in the ant-lions. A larva was found on the 
bark of a tree ; it remained motionless on the bark without food for two 
