LESSON CIV.

NERVE-WINGED INSECTS.

[FIFTH ORDER OF INSECTS: Neuroptera, OR NERVE-WINGED.]

AMERICAN NERVE-WINGED INSECTS, natural size. 1. Common Dragon - fly. 2. The Agrion Dragon-fly. 3. Day-fly, or May-fly. 4. Grub, or larva, of the same. 5. Horned Corydalis. 6. A Mantispan. 7. The magnified claw of the Mantispan. [See page 311.]

1. THE nerve-winged insects are distinguished principally by their four delicate net-like wings, all of which are equally fitted for rapid flight. They have jaws, but they have neither sting nor piercer. Most of the species are almost always in motion like swallows, and, catching their prey with their feet while flying, they devour it in the air.

2. Many of them deposit their eggs in ponds, in which their larvæ, or grubs, live one or two years; but when the time for their metamorphosis arrives, they crawl from the water, throw off their covering, and launch forth upon the air, the gayest of winged insects.

3. The most conspicuous of the insects of this order

are the dragon-flies, which are sometimes called "darningneedles." They are abundant in this country. Though often a source of terror to children, they are harmless insects, and beautiful too, and may be handled without fear. 4. Yet, when darting rapidly through the air in search of their prey, they are like roving freebooters, for they feed upon all insects which they can overpower. If sev eral of them be shut up in a house for a short time, they will effectually rid it of flies, musquitoes, and other troublesome household pests.

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5. Among the net-winged insects are the ant-lions, the brilliant lace-wing flies, and also those wonderful little creatures, the termites, or white ants of Africa. (See p. 306.) Here are also found the far-famed ephemera, or day-flies, sometimes called May - flies, "insects of a day," a name given them many centuries ago by Aristotle and Pliny. In the grub or larva form the ephemera live two or three years in their birthplace, the water, or in a little cavern which they form in the bank of the stream.

6. At length, on some sunny day in May, they may be seen in great numbers starting up from the surface of our rivers, lakes, and ponds; quickly throwing off their watercloaks, they appear with two pairs of gauzy, citron-colored wings; and after sporting a few hours in the sunshine, they deposit their eggs, and die, like an expiring candle, "extinguished—not decayed." Thine, little brilliant rover, was, indeed, an "ephemeral" existence; but thy last day was a happy one.

7.

"Thy day without a cloud hath passed,

And thou wert lovely to the last,
Extinguished-not decayed;

As stars that shoot along the sky

Shine brightest as they fall from high.”

DIS-TIN'-GUISHED, made known by.
DE-POS -IT, lay; place.

CON-SPIO-U-ous, open to view; best

known.

d FREE'-BOOT-ERS, robbers; plunderers.
e E-PHEM-E-RA. This is a Greek word,
meaning for a day.

[Nerve-winged insects described. Their eggs and larvæ. The dragon-flies. Other insects of this order. The day-flies, or May-flies. Their larva state, sudden metamorphosis, and brief existence of the perfect insect. What striking simile closes the lesson?]

LESSON CV.

TO THE DAY-FLY.

1. THY joyous gambolsa as I see,
Day-fly', I'd almost wish to be

Such thing of brief duration';b
To sport, like thee, one little day,
Nor pass through years of slow decay',
To reach life's termination'.c

2. But ah'! what graceless wish breathed I?
How little knowledge, brilliant fly',
Of thy existence showing!
Still less of what I call my own'!
How heedless of the precious boon, e
And Him to whom 'tis owing'!
3. Bright insect', ere thy filmy wing,
Expanding on the breath of spring,
Quivered with brief enjoyment',
"Twas thine for years immureds to dwell
Within a lone and gloomy cell,

To eat-thy sole enjoyment.

4. Within that cavern dark and dank,h
Scooped in a streamlet's oozy bank,
Its walls the water laving',

Thy form and nature incomplete',
Earth was thy home', and earth thy meat',
So coarse and vile thy craving.)

5. To these long years-thy life's dark part—
How much within my earth-bound heart
Too close resemblance holding'!
But light and joy, for one day thine,
From age to age may yet be mine,
Their endless beams unfolding.

a GAM'-BOLS, sportive movements.

b DU-RA'-TION, existence.

TERM-IN-A-TION, end.

d GRACE'-LESS, ungracious; unthankful. BOON, gift of life.

EX-PAND'-ING, opening; spreading forth.

Episodes of Insect Life.

* IM-MŪRED', imprisoned; confined within walls.

h DANK, moist; wet.

i LAV'-ING, washing.

JCRAV'-ING, hungering for food.

[The happy, though brief life of the day-fly, at first inclines the writer of this little poem to wish that his life might be as short, if it could only be as happy, and terminate without passing through those "years of slow decay" incident to humanity; but on reflecting that the day-fly had already passed through its "dark part" of life, immured for years in a gloomy cavern, he traces a resemblance between its life and his own, and closes with the joyous thought that, though the insect was allowed one day of happiness, light and joy might be his throughout endless ages.]

LESSON CVI.

NOT LOST, BUT GONE BEFORE.

An Allegory: adapted from "Parables from Nature."

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1. On a certain day in June the little Grub of a Dragonfly was busily engaged, with his numerous companions, moving about among the plants at the bottom of the water in search of prey. So eager were all in their pursuit of the little insects on which they fed, that for a long time not one of them had spoken a word to the others.

2. The water formed a beautiful pond in the centre of a wood. Tall trees grew around it, and bulrushes and forget-me-nots fringed its borders. But down in the water. was the home of the little Grubs-the only home they knew, for they could not live in the air. Water was, to them, the whole World of Life.

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3. All at once the little Grub we spoke of broke the silence of the waters by these strange words. "I wonder," said he, "what becomes of the Frog when he climbs up out of this world, and disappears so that we do not even see his shadow-till, plop! he is among us again when we least expect him. Does any body know where he goes'?" 4. "Who cares?" answered one of his companions who overheard the Grub's inquiry. "Look out for food for yourself," cried another, "and let other people's business alone."

5. "But I would like to know," said the first speaker. "I can see all of you as you move about among the plants in the water here; but I followed a Frog just now as he went upward, and all at once he went to the side of the water, and then began to disappear, and presently he was gone. Did he leave this world, do you think'? I wonder if there is any world beyond this'!"

6. "You idle, talkative fellow'," cried another, shooting by as he spoke. "Attend to the world you are in', and do not trouble yourself about what is beyond it. See what a morsel you have missed by your wonderings about nothing." So saying, the saucy speaker seized an insect which was flitting by right before the eyes of his friend.

7. The curiosity of the Grub was a little checked by these and similar remarks, and for a time he resumed his employment of chasing prey; but, do what he would, he could not help thinking about the curious disappearance of the Frog, and again he began to tease his neighbors about it. What becomes of the Frog when he leaves this world, was the only subject of his thoughts and his inquiries.

8. He asked the minnows;d but they eyed him askance, and passed on without speaking, for they knew no more than he did of the matter; and the eels wriggled away in the mud out of hearing, for they could not bear to be disturbed.

9. Suddenly there was a heavy splash in the water, and a large yellow Frog swam down to the bottom. "There'!