316 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [July, '07 



the yellow markings, the bands on the forewings are some- 

 what lighter in color than in the red ones. 



Among the total lot of sixty specimens three have either 

 the fore or hind wings shading into the gray, some showing 

 a tendency to albinism, two with the hind wings red and 

 one with yellow. 



The larvas were fed with lettuce from the earliest stage, later 

 I fed most of them with dandelion, a few were fed with lettuce 

 until transformation ; both lots, however, resulted in yellow 

 as well as red forms. 



The breeding was carried on indoors in a temperature of 

 the ordinary living room and in almost total darkness; no 

 experiment with the chrysalids was attempted. The imagos 

 emerged in the latter part of July and the early part of August. 

 An attempt at further propagation was not successful, the 

 same being the case in 1905, when I sacrificed several speci- 

 mens for same purpose. 



OVIPOSITION OF CHRYSOPA SPECIES. On August 8, 1903. at Cumber- 

 land, Md., a female Chrysopa was observed to alight on a grass stem 

 in a large meadow, and after a few minutes fly from there to a 

 clover leaf. From its peculiar actions, oviposition was suspected; the 

 insect was careful in choosing a position, and the tip of the abdomen 

 was moved up and down. After tentative examination of the under 

 surface of the leaf with jaws and tip of abdomen, it came to the 

 upper surface and finally took position on the discal portion of the 

 leaf near the midrib; the body was in its normal position. The 

 abdomen then began to move up and down, and the penultimate 

 segments became swollen, giving a knotted appearance to the whole. 

 After a few seconds, the tip of the abdomen was placed flat against 

 the leaf and this was daubed several times with a viscous secretion 

 forming a mat, the base and support of the egg-petiole. Resting on this 

 mat of secreted matter, the tip of the abdomen was then slowly raised, 

 while at the same time the secretion continued and quickly hardened 

 on exposure to the air, becoming visible to the eye. In this way 

 the petiole was formed. Continuing the slow, regular, upward move- 

 ment of the abdomen, there suddenly came into view a large whitish 

 object, which proved to be the egg. After this was out of the insect, 

 the upward movement of the abdomen stopped, and the egg was held 

 in position until the secretion had hardened. The egg was deposited 

 after the stem or petiole had reached a height of a quarter of an inch. 

 A. A. GIRAULT. 



