FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



on the end of each, thereby giving each young one a 

 chance for its life." The captious would remark that a 

 given egg and its stalk are arranged before another stalk is 

 made, but the final effect is the same (see Plate XIV). 

 The principal genus of this family is Chrysopa, including 

 about a dozen species in most parts of the country but the 

 species all look pretty much alike. They come every year 

 on my honeysuckle and I bring more from the fields and 

 turn them loose in my garden. I have never considered, 

 carefullv, the moral side of such an action but I am sure 

 the owners of the "fields" would tell me I was welcome 

 if I showed them the Chrysopa they wouldn't know what 

 a splendid help these insects are in keeping down aphids 

 (plant lice). One Sunday afternoon I tried to see how 

 many such pests a single Chrysopa would eat; I have 

 forgotten what the count was when I stopped but I know 

 that I got tired before the aphis-lion did and I turned it 

 loose on the honeysuckle to keep up the good work. The 

 larva spins a delicate silken cocoon in which to pupate; 

 the cocoon opens like a box when the adult is ready to 

 emerge. The odor of the adult is not always as delicate 

 as the appearance; they are sometimes common about 

 lights so that you can easily determine this yourself. 



The larvas of HEMEROBIID^E are also "aphis-lions"; the 

 adults have brownish or smoky wings instead of greenish. 



MECOPTERA 



Adult males of the genus Panorpa (see Plate XV) have 

 a pair of claspers at the end of their abdomen by means of 

 which they hold the females while mating. These claspers 

 and the turned-up slender body suggest the sting of a 

 scorpion, hence the common name Scorpion-flies, but they 

 are harmless. The Iarva3, as far as known, are carnivorous 

 and live on or just below the surface of the ground, es- 

 pecially if it be moist. All the adults of this order have 

 beak-like mouths and, if they feed at all, are probably 

 carnivorous. Certainly, adults of Bittacus (Plate XV), 

 although they look something like craneflies with too many 

 wings and appear to be asleep much of the time, wake up 



56 



