ENEMIES OF APHIDES. 259 



quoted, that when first hatched the larvae of Chrysopidce live often 

 on the eggs of other insects, an observation which is confirmed by 

 a writer in Sciefice Gossip for the year 1890 — Mr. T. W. Wonfor, 

 of Brighton— who says that in the July of that year he saw a larva 

 of the Lacewing fly feeding on the eggs and young larvae of the 

 Dot Moth {Manesira persicaricp). It is, therefore, pretty certain 

 that while the young larvae of several insects which may frequent 

 the haunts of Chrysopa are egg-eaters, nothing has been observed 

 to show that the larvae of the latter destroy the eggs of their own 

 species. It seems not improbable that the frequency with which 

 Chrysopa is met with in comparison wnth the other Hemerobiince 

 may be due to the preservation of the eggs by the peculiar mode 

 of oviposition described. 



If we adopt the classification of Dr. Hagen, we find that out 

 of thirty-two species of Henierobiidce which he describes, no less 

 than fifteen are placed under Chrysopa, whilst Hemerobius claims 

 seven only, and the remaining ten species are divided among five 

 genera. 



Reaumur (Memoires sur les Insectes, Tom. III., PI. 32, 33) 

 gives four illustrations, apparently of various larvae of the Hemero- 

 biincB, but the want of detail renders it impossible to say to what 

 genus they belong except one, which is no doubt C perla. He 

 has, with the exercise of a fanciful imagination, often found in the 

 naturalists who laid the basis of our present knowledge, called these 

 curious larvae ' Aphis lions,' on account of some resemblance in 

 carrtivorous habit to the Myrmeleones, or 'Ant-lions,' and, indeed, 

 they are at least as formidable to the delicate aphis as the latter 

 are to their especial prey. They differ, however, in this : that 

 whereas the Ant-lion, having digged a pit, waits for the victim to 

 come to him, the 'Aphis lion,' on the contrary, exhibits usually a 

 remarkable activity in seeking its prey, and in case of scarcity of 

 food not hesitating occasionally to attack a larva of its own kind. 

 The struggles arising when two larvae happen to seize the same 

 aphis simultaneously are of a violent and often very ludicrous 

 character. 



The larvae of Chrysopa and Hemerobius (which are practically 

 the only aphis-eating genera commonly met with) are long and 

 narrow in body, depressed, segments well marked and successively 



