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Show 56 INSECTA. this order fl'om the tenth or that of the Lepidoptera, ~here, besides, the four wings are farinaceous. The surface of these wings in the N europtera is finely reticulated, and the under ones are most commonly as large as those above them b~t sometimes wider, and sometimes narrower and longer. Then maxillre and the inferior portion of theit· labrum or the men· tum are never tubular. The abdomen is destitute of a sting and rarely furnished with an ovipositor. Their antennre are usually setaceous, and composed of nu. merous joints. They have two or. t~ree simple. eye~. ~he trunk is formed of three segments, mttmately 1m1ted In a sm. gle body, distinct from the abdomen, and bearing the si~ legs; the first of these segments is usually very short, and 1n the form of a collar. The number of joints in the tarsi varies. The body is usually elongated, and with rather soft or but slightly squamous teguments; the abdomen is always sessile. Many of these Insects are carnivorous in their first state and in their last. Some merely exp~rience a semimetamorphosi~, the rest a complete one; but the larvro always have six hooked feet, which they usually employ in seeking their food. I will divide this order into three families, which will ~uc· cessively present to us th~ following natural affinities: 1. Carnivorous Insects, subject to a semimetamorphosis, with aquatic larvre. 2. Carnivorous Insects, .. ubject to a complete metamorpho· sis, with aquatic or terrestriallarvre. .. 3. Carnivorous or omnivorous terrestrial Insects, subject to a semimetamorphosis. · 4. Herbivorous Insects, subject to a complete metamorpho· sis, with aquatic larvre, which construct portable, dwellings. We will end with those species in which the wings are the least reticulated, and which resemble Phalrenre or Tineites. NEUROPTEltA. 57 FAMILY I. SUBULICORNES, Lat.(l) This family is composed of the order Odonata of Fabricius, and of the genus Ephemera. The antennre are subulate, and hardly longer than the head; they are composed of seven joints at most, the last of which is setaceous. The mandibles and the maxiJlre are completely covered by the labrum and labium, or by the anterior and projecting extremity of ~he head. The wings are always reticulated and distant, sometimes laid horizontally and sometimes placed perpendicularly; the inferior are as large as the superior, or sometimes very small and even wanting. The ordinary eyes are very large and prominent in all of them; and they all have two or three ocelli situated between the former.. The two first periods of their life are passed in the bosom of the waters, where they prey on living animals. The larvre and chrysalides, which approximate in form to the perfect Insect, respire by means of peculiar organs situated on the sides or extremity of the abdomen. They issu~ from the water to undergo their ultimate metamorphosis. In some the mandibles and maxillce are corneous, very strong, and covered by the two lips; the tarsi are triarticulated; the wings are equal, and the posterior extremity of the abdomen is sim,ply terminated by hooks or laminiform or foliaceous . appendages. They form the Fabrician order of the Odonata, or the genus LIBELLULA, Lin. Geoff. The light and graceful figure of these Insects, the ?eautiful and va- (1) A section, divided into two families, the LIBELLULINJB, in my Fam. Nat. du Regn. Animal. VoL IV.-H |