The Hemerobii, to which are given by the French the name of Demoiselles terrestres, or Land Dragon-Flies, are very small delicate insects, of an apple-green colour, with golden red eyes. These insects leave on the fingers, when seized, an offensive odour. Réaumur calls them Lions des pucerons (Plant-Lice Lions), because their larvæ, which resembles the larvæ of the ant-lions, and which live on plants, feed on plant-lice. They attack also caterpillars. Their mandibles are provided with a canal for suction, like those of the foregoing species.
| Fig. 408.—Nemoptera Coa. | Fig. 409.—Osmylus maculatus. |
The insects of the genus Osmylus ([Fig. 409]) are rather rare; but may be found in the shrubs which border ponds. They also belong to the Hemerobidæ. Their larvæ live in wet ground.
Fig. 410.—Panorpa, male and female.
The Panorpatæ 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. 410]), 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 abdomen terminates in a pair of pincers ([Fig. 411]), which rather remind one of the tail of a scorpion, and which are destined to seize their prey, which they kill by piercing with their beak. The female lays her eggs in the ground ([Fig. 412]). 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 pupa, which, after a fortnight, comes again into the light in the form of a perfect insect. There are two other genera of Panorpatæ, of which Bittacus tipularis ([Fig. 413]), resembling a large gnat, furnished with four wings, and Boreus hyemalis ([Fig. 414]), of a brilliant black, met with in Sweden and in the elevated parts of the Alps, jumping about on the snow in considerable troops—are representatives. The latter has been found in England.
| Fig. 411.—Pincer of male Panorpa. | Fig. 412.—Female Panorpa laying. |
| Fig. 413.—Bittacus tipularis. | Fig. 414.—Boreus hyemalis (magnified and natural size). |
