. Entomology : with special reference to its biological and economic aspects. ts.—Among Orthoptera, ^Mantid^e arenotal^ly predatory, their front legs (Fig. 62, C) being wellfitted for grasping and killing other insects. The predaceousodonate nymphs have a peculiarhinged extensilile la1)ium with I -/o which to gather in the prey. Theadults catch with surpassingspeed and precision a great va-riety of fiying insects, mostlysmall forms, but occasionally but-terflies of considerable size. Theeyes of a dragon fly are remark-ably large; the legs form a spinybasket, probably to catch the prey,which is
. Entomology : with special reference to its biological and economic aspects. ts.—Among Orthoptera, ^Mantid^e arenotal^ly predatory, their front legs (Fig. 62, C) being wellfitted for grasping and killing other insects. The predaceousodonate nymphs have a peculiarhinged extensilile la1)ium with I -/o which to gather in the prey. Theadults catch with surpassingspeed and precision a great va-riety of fiying insects, mostlysmall forms, but occasionally but-terflies of considerable size. Theeyes of a dragon fly are remark-ably large; the legs form a spinybasket, probably to catch the prey,which is instantly stripped anddevoured, these operations beingfacilitated by the excessive mo1)il-ity of the head. The hemipter-ous families Corixid^e, Notonect-idse (Fig. 224), Nepid?e, Belos- tomid^e (Fig. 22), Naucorid?e (Fig. 62, D), Reduviidie andPhymatidcC are predaceous, with raptorial front legs and sharpbeaks. Some of the Pentatomidae (Fig. 270) are of con-siderable economic value on account of their predaceoushabits. Most of the Neuroptera feed upon other insects. 307. Nymph of Podisus sfinosus suck-ing the blood from a clover cater-pillar, Colias [>hilodicc. Naturalsize. 308 ENTOMOLOGY The Myniiclcon larva digs a funnel-shaped pitfall, at the bot-tom of which it buries itself to await the fall of some unluckyant. The Chrysopa larva impales an aphid on the points ofits mandibles and sucks the blood through a groove alongeach mandible (Fig. 45, E), the maxilla fitting against thisgroove to form a closed channel. Several families of Coleop-tera are almost entirely predaceous. Among aquatic beetles,Dytiscidse are carnivorous both as larva; and imagines, Gyrin-idae subsist chiefly upon disabled insects, but occasionally eatplant substances, and Hydrophilidce as larvae catch and devourother insects, though some of the beetles of this family {, for example. Fig. 226) feed largely if not en-tirely upon vegetation. Of terrestriaF Coleoptera, the tigerbeetles (Cici
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1
