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428 THE INSECT WORLD. 

The Panorpate constitute a singular little family, having a | 
peculiar shaped head, which is prolonged to a sort of long and 
slender beak. Aristotle called them Scorpion flies, and thought 
they were winged scorpions. The Panorpas, properly so called 
(Fig. 409), are found on hedges and plants during the summer. 
They have slim bodies spotted with yellow and black, and four 
straight wings, also spotted with black. In the males, the abdo- 
men terminates in a pair of pincers (Fig. 410), which rather 

Fig. 409.—Panorpa, male and female. 
remind one of the tail of a scorpion, and which are destined to 
seize dragon-flies, which they kill by piercing with their beak. 
The female lays her eggs in the ground (Fig. 411). In a week, 
the larva makes its appearance; it is a month in developing, it 
then buries itself still deeper in the earth, and changes into a 

Fig. 410.—Pincer of male Panorpa. Fig, 411.—Female Panorpa laying. 
pupa, which, after a fortnight, comes again into the light in the 
form of a perfect insect. There are two other genera of Panor- 
pate, of which Bittacus tipularis (Fig. 412) —resembling a- 
large gnat, furnished with four wings— and Boreus hyemalis 
(Fig. 413) — of a brilliant black, met with in Sweden and 
in the elevated parts of the Alps, jumping about on the snow, 

