The Golden-eyed Fly (_Chrysopa vulgaris_) is a very abundant and well-known example, but notwithstanding its great beauty it is capable of emitting a very disagreeable odour when handled. This is a delicate green insect with a body half an inch long, and which may be seen almost everywhere on warm summer evenings, flying slowly about from tree to tree. The eggs, which are little round or oval bodies like small pearls, are deposited by the female in groups upon the leaves of plants and trees. The _larva_ when fullfed is about half an inch in length. The food consists of plant lice and aphides, and it is thus a very beneficial creature, and should be encouraged by every gardener. The _pupa_ of this insect is enclosed in a cocoon. Between thirty and forty species of lacewing flies are known to occur in our own country. [Illustration: Fig. 46.--Chrysopa Septempunctata.] [Illustration: Fig. 47.--Mantis Pagana.] _Family 3, Mantispidæ._--This family contains only one genus--viz., _Mantispa_, or the Mantis Flies. A single species, _Mantispa pagana_, is common in southern Europe, but does not occur in the British Isles. _Family 4, Sialidæ._--In the fourth family of the _Planipennia_ the _larvæ_ are aquatic in their habits with very few exceptions. The _pupa_ is not enclosed in a cocoon as it is in the _Hemerobiidæ_. The single common British species (_Sialis lutaria_) is a blackish-brown insect, rather more than half an inch in length. It is well known to anglers, and may be found abundantly in the spring and early part of the summer upon walls and palings in the neighbourhood of water, and upon the stems and leaves of grasses and other plants growing in the water or upon its bank. In repose the wings of this insect, as in the _Hemerolicidæ_, are laid over the back. They are sluggish creatures, and do not readily take to flight. _Family 5, Raphiidæ._--This family contains the curious group of insects called "Snake Flies" or "Camel Flies," which are included by some entomologists in the previous family. They have characteristics, however, which entitle them to be placed apart. They have a rather large head, which is attached to a greatly elongated prothorax by a thinnish neck, so that the head has considerable freedom of motion. The species are not numerous, four kinds only occurring in Britain. The _larvæ_ reside under the bark of trees, where they feed upon minute insects. The commonest species is probably _Raphidia megacephala_. [Illustration: Fig. 48.--Raphidia Ophiopsis (Mag.)] [Illustration: Fig. 49.--Panorpa Communis.] _Family 6, Panorpidæ._--The _Panorpidæ_, or Scorpion Flies, are very curious creatures, characterised above all things by the perpendicularly placed and greatly elongated head. The _larvæ_, so far as they are known, live in the earth, and are like caterpillars in their general form.