. Elementary entomology. Entomology. THE NERVE-WINGED INSECTS 95 of its wings, as is highly necessary if it is not to be drowned. Most insects require several minutes or even hours for the wings to ex- pand and harden, but Professor Comstock observed a caddis-fly which took flight immediately upon emergence from the water. The adults are usually gra)'ish, brownish, or dusky in color, marked with black or white, and are rarely observed except as they fly into lights. Pseudoneuroptera, with incomplete metamorphosis. All of the three orders just considered have a complete metamorphosis and are mo
. Elementary entomology. Entomology. THE NERVE-WINGED INSECTS 95 of its wings, as is highly necessary if it is not to be drowned. Most insects require several minutes or even hours for the wings to ex- pand and harden, but Professor Comstock observed a caddis-fly which took flight immediately upon emergence from the water. The adults are usually gra)'ish, brownish, or dusky in color, marked with black or white, and are rarely observed except as they fly into lights. Pseudoneuroptera, with incomplete metamorphosis. All of the three orders just considered have a complete metamorphosis and are more or less closely related. The next three orders are all aquatic and have an incomplete metamorphosis, for which reason they are often grouped together as false Neuroptera {Psciuionciiroptcrd). The May-flies {Ephemenda) ^ are \^ ell named, for they are the most ephemeral of insects. The wings are exceedingly delicate and the fore-wings are much the larger, the hind-wings sometimes being entirely wanting. The mouth-parts of f ^^''^r " the adults are exceedingl)- rudimentary, fe* i/iM^:/' /. , / and they probably take no food. The Ml!'JAJLMm'it^ILJ:!ll antennse are short, but at the end of ^"'^- '--â ^'^^^^ ^ net-building , , r 1 1 1 caddis-worm the long, soft abdomen are two or three , .... ,,., , (After Comstock) long, many-jomted, threadlike append- ages, the cerci, which are quite characteristic of the May-flies. On warm nights of late spring and early summer the lights of towns near rivers and lakes are often darkened by myriads of May-flies. They are light brown or dusky colored, with wings expanding from one to one and one half inches, and with cerci fully as long. The nymphs live at the bottom of ponds, streams, and lakes, feeding on small insects and vegetable matter in the ooze. Along either side of the nymph's abdomen is a row of delicate, platelike, fringed tracheal gills, through which it breathes, and at the tip of the abdomen are three feathery appendag
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1, booksubjectentomology, bookyear1912
