FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



in the nests of spiders and wasps, and pupate there with- 

 in a silken cocoon MANTISPID/E. 



Front legs not thicker than other legs and not fitted 

 for grasping 3. 



3. Wings with few, simple veins, and covered with a 

 whitish powder. Minute and rare insects whose larvas 

 feed on aphids CONIOPTERYGHXE. 



Wings with many veins and not covered with whitish 

 powder 4. 



4. Wing-veins all ending in a succession of symmetrical 

 forks. CHRYSOP.ID.E (antennas threadlike) and HEMERO- 

 BIID/E (antennas either like a string of beads or comb-like). 



Wing-veins meeting the outer margin of the wing 

 in straight lines. Insects now put in the order Megaloptera 



(P- 52). 



The "common" name, Ant-lion, given 

 Myrmeleomdae . ' . ' 



to members of this family is a translation 



of the real name and both are poor, for one could scarcely 

 imagine a lion digging a trap in which to catch its prey. 

 The ant-lion's trap is ingenious; it is a pit made in sand or 

 loose soil. The larva is hidden at the bottom (see the 

 cross-section shown in Plate XIV). When an ant or some 

 other insect steps over the edge, it tumbles into the waiting 

 jaws below, often being assisted in its downfall by a 

 shower of sand thrown up by the hidden lion. Pupation 

 takes place, underground, inside a spherical silken cocoon. 

 The adults are delicate, gauzy-winged creatures which are 

 frequently attracted to lights ; in fact, they were so common 

 as to be troublesome one summer when I was collecting 

 moths in the arid Southwest. A favorite place for the 

 pits of some species is underneath shed roofs. 



In his Book of Bugs Harvey Sutherland 

 Chrysopidae . T 



says of the Aphis-lion: Its mother, the 



golden-eyed lace-wing fly, is a dear, sweet thing, that you 

 would think fit only to go on an Easter card, so pale and 

 aesthetic are her light-green wings. But her children are 

 such regular little^ ' di wels ' that she dare not lay her eggs 

 in one mass, for the first one out would eat up all the rest. 

 So she spins a lot of stalks of stiff silk and sticks one egg 



54 



