ORDER NEUROPTERA.
Including the Dragon Flies, Lacewing Flies, Day Flies, Stone Flies, Caddis Flies, and their Allies.
Next to the butterflies and moths, the Neuroptera (or nerve-winged insects), to which belong the Dragon Flies, Lacewing Flies, Day Flies, Stone Flies, Caddis Flies, and their allies, are undoubtedly the most beautiful members of the insect tribe. Though they cannot compete with the Lepidoptera in point of colouring, it is questionable whether they are not more graceful and elegant in appearance.
The order Neuroptera was founded by the great Swedish naturalist Linnæus, and its name has been kept intact since, though the classification of the insects comprised in it has undergone many modifications.
Fig. 41.—Ascacaphus Macaronius.
The Neuroptera are not a very numerous body of insects compared with either the Coleoptera or Lepidoptera, but they contain some of the largest and most handsome insects known. The order is very well represented in the temperate zones, though the finest species are met with in the tropical parts of the world. Nearly 700 species are known to inhabit the British Isles. In the whole world their number may be given in round figures at about 4,000, but there is no doubt that this number may be considerably increased.
The largest and most handsome species are the Dragon Flies or Ornoptera, one species occurring in our own country, measuring fully four inches in expanse of the wings. The Lacewing Flies (Hemerobiidæ), the Day Flies (Ephemeridæ), the Stone Flies (Perlidæ), and the Caddis Flies (Trichoptera), are among the other more conspicuous members of the group.
