. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. 466 NEUROPTERA 3. Osmylina: a group of delicate and elegant Insects of small or moderate size, distinguished by the possession of three simple eyes placed on the middle of the head just above the antennae. A species of this group, Osmylus chrysops (macidatus of some authors), is an inhabitant of Britain (Fig. 212); its larva is to some extent amphibious. The metamorphoses have been ob- served by Dufour, Brauer, and Hagen ; ^ it lurks under stones in or close to the water, or in moss, or on the stems of aquatic plants, and pierces and empties small Inse
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. 466 NEUROPTERA 3. Osmylina: a group of delicate and elegant Insects of small or moderate size, distinguished by the possession of three simple eyes placed on the middle of the head just above the antennae. A species of this group, Osmylus chrysops (macidatus of some authors), is an inhabitant of Britain (Fig. 212); its larva is to some extent amphibious. The metamorphoses have been ob- served by Dufour, Brauer, and Hagen ; ^ it lurks under stones in or close to the water, or in moss, or on the stems of aquatic plants, and pierces and empties small Insects with its sucking-spears, which are very elongate. The young are hatched from the egg in the autumn and hibernate before becoming full grown; when this moment arrives the larva spins a round cocoon of A Larva • ^^^^ mixccl with sand. The pupa, B, side view of heaii of larva (after or nymph, in general appearance Brauer); C, pupa (after Hagen). -i , i i , j- j. " ^ '^ ^ * ' somewhat resembles the perfect Insect, except that it is shorter and has the short wing-pads clinging close to the body. Dufour denied the existence of abdominal spiracles in either larva or imago, but, according to Hagen, they are certainly present in both. It would appear that in the larva the alimentary canal is not open beyond the chyHfic ventricle, and that its terminal section is modified to form a spinning apparatus. Osmylus and its allies, including Sisyra, are now frequently treated as a separate sub-family, Osmylides, equivalent to the Chrysopiides. In it is placed a very anomalous Insect—Psectra dispar—of great rarity. The male has only two wings, the pos- terior pair being the merest rudiments, though the female has the four wings normally developed. Individuals of the male have been found ^ in widely separated localities in the Palaearctic region— Somersetshire being one of them—and also in North America. 1 Linnaea entomologka, vii. 1852, p. 368, with plates. - See Albarda in
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