1865.] 200 



of September, so much so that I feel safe in saying that there was one 

 or more for every stalk of that thickly sown corn ; every stroke of the 

 cutter would raise three or four dozen of them, presenting quite an in- 

 teresting spectacle as they staggered along in their awkward, unsteady 

 flight. In the evening twilight I observed more of them on the wing- 

 voluntarily, than at other times. Jn this corn were millions of chinch- 

 bugs (Lt/geeus leucopterus Say), every stalk being literally black with 

 them ; this was a second general brood of the bugs ; the first almost 

 matured in an oat and wheat-field near by, and migrated to the corn, 

 where they paired and laid their eggs. On these young chinch-bugs I 

 observed the larvae of the Ghrysopa to be feeding very voraciously. 

 Of all the perfect insects then and there examined, I only found one of 

 a different species (similar to Ch. pseudographa, but the segments each 

 side have a red instead of a yellowish spot, and a red spot on each side 

 of the face), and I caught and examined hundreds in the field with a 

 view of determining that fact; as this was an isolated specimen taken 

 in the perfect state, it is quite probable that no other than the species 

 heretofore described were preying on the chinch-bugs. 



Larva. — Greenish-white, immaculate beneath; above, on each side 

 of the dorsal line, three rather inconspicuous longitudinal rows of brown 

 spots, these spots much more prominent on the thoracic segments; dor- 

 sal line brown, narrow; bunches of short hair in the spots of the seg- 

 ments of the body. Body swollen in the middle, tapering towards each 

 end; tail quite acuminate, and used as an organ of locomotion, it being 

 able to sustain its entire weight by the tail, even on glass. Head armed 

 with long projecting mandibles; palpi two-thirds as long as the mandi- 

 bles; antennae longer; length at rest, about .5 inch., extending consi- 

 derably when in motion. 



When alarmed by disturbance, it allows itself to fall, and remains 

 motionless for some minutes ; the body in the meantime is slightly 

 curved, the tail is drawn under, the head is bowed forward on the 

 breast, and the legs are contracted. 



Sept. 11, 18G4. — I placed one of the larvse into a vial, after having 

 captured it in the field in the very act of devouring chinch-bugs of all 

 sizes, but they had hardly reached the bottom before it seized one of 

 the largest ones, pierced it with its long mandibles, held it almost mo- 

 tionless for about a minute while it was sucking the juices from the 

 body of its victim, it then threw down the lifeless shell ; in this way I 

 saw it destroy, in quick succession, about a dozen bugs; towards the 

 last, as its appetite was becoming satiated, it spent five or more minutes 



