Snake-flies

(Family Raphidiidae.)

Insects of this family are rapacious foes of other insects, and it is a pity that their geographic distribution in the United States is so limited. They are found as a matter of fact practically only on the Pacific Slope, although one species is recorded from Colorado and another from Arizona.

They are insects of curious structure, the neck being very long and the female bearing a long, curved ovipositor. The larvae are found under the bark of trees, and Comstock says that in California he has found them commonly under the loose bark of the Eucalyptus.

The codling moth or apple-worm has a habit of spinning its cocoon under the loose bark of apple trees after it leaves the fruit, and many of the codling moth larvae are destroyed by these Raphidians. In Australia and New Zealand the codling moth is a great scourge, and some years ago an attempt was made to send living Raphidians from California to these English colonies in the hope that they might become acclimated and assist fruit-growers in their work against the codling moth. Nothing has been heard from them, however, for several years, and the probabilities are that the attempt was a failure. In England these insects are known as snake-flies, from the long neck of the adult.

The larvae are very voracious and hunt for their prey with great assiduity. They are, like many other carnivorous insects, capable of fasting for a long time. The German entomologist Stein kept one for eight months without food, but still living.

The pupa is found naked under bark and looks like the adult except that it has not the long neck. It becomes active before giving out the adult, just as do the pupae of the caddis flies.

Less than ten species inhabit the United States, all of them, as above stated, being far western forms. The full life-history of none of them is known.