33 2 Phylum Arthropoda 



ones. The cabbage aphid (on cabbage and turnip) is one of the easiest 

 of all aphids to maintain as a constant supply for continuous rearing in 

 summer and winter. During the season aphids on Spiraea, apple, dock, 

 shepherd's purse, and the corn-leaf aphid (also on young sugar cane) are 

 wholly satisfactory. 



HEMEROBIIDAE AND BEROTHIDAE 

 (Brown lace-wings) 



Collecting and rearing methods described for chrysopids apply 

 almost equally well for hemerobiids (Smith, 1923). Members of 

 these families are more difficult to collect and all stages are generally 

 less plentiful than are chrysopids. 



Adults are best collected by sweeping low vegetation and beating the 

 limbs of pines and oaks with a strong insect net. Larvae may be col- 

 lected in the same way particularly from pines and oaks. Eggs and 

 pupae are very difficult to collect and are discovered usually only when 

 making close observations on aphid-infested branches. Some brown 

 lace-wings are known to overwinter as adults, and so may be collected 

 during the fall and spring. 



CONIOPTERYGIDAE 



Adults and, less commonly, larvae of the "mealy-winged Neurop- 

 tera" have been taken by beating the foliage of pine, apple, and oak 

 trees with a beating net. These insects are difficult to see in a net be- 

 cause of their small size. The net contents must be sorted over carefully. 

 It is well to familiarize oneself with the appearance of these insects by 

 looking at specimens in collections repeatedly or studying pictures before 

 doing much collecting. They occur from midsummer to fall but the 

 writer has never found them plentiful. The females may be confined in 

 small glass vials plugged with cotton. Place in the vial a portion of a 

 leaf with some small aphids, young scale insects, or young mealybugs 

 on it for food. A little moisture is taken by adults also. Eggs may be 

 laid on the leaf or cotton plug. This same food is accepted by the larvae 

 which should be kept in individual vials because of their cannibalistic 

 habits. 



MYRMELEONIDAE 



The writer has been unable to obtain eggs by confining mid-western 

 ant-lion adults in various kinds of cages. The larvae of the pit-forming 

 species may be collected readily by scooping up the sand pits, with 

 a coarse tea strainer or other strainer, or with a large spoon, being careful 

 to dip below the larvae. Then sift or pour off the sand until the larva 

 is found. When thus disturbed the larvae are difficult to see because they 



