50 [March, 



second cliaiifre took place on tlie 14th. I observed no more before it 

 commenced to spin, on the 20th, in the folds of a leaf. The cocoon 

 was completed by the next day, and the perfect insect emerged the 

 following year, on May 30th, 1910. 



It will now perhaps be interesting to follow the fortunes of the 

 other female. After the death of the other pair, I was undecided 

 whether to kill her off, and so make sure of a good specimen for the 

 cabinet, or to keep her alive for a few days longer. I had not observed 

 that any pairing had taken place during the two days that the three 

 had been together, and when a week passed and no ova were laid, 

 I quite gave u}) hopes of any more, as my experience with wild 

 imagines has always gone to prove that, unless ova are deposited 

 immediately after capttu-e they are very seldom laid afterwards. She 

 was such a beautiful example, however, and seemed so active and 

 vigorous, that I thought I would experiment and see how long I could 

 keep her alive. Accordingly, after some ten days' confinement, I 

 thought I would try her with a little sugar and water. I introduced 

 a drop into the j lass, and to my intense surprise she at once fed from 

 it, lapping the sweet liquid r(uite greedily. After this, I fed her at 

 inteiwals of a few days, always with the same result, and by this 

 means I kept her alive for just a month. I found her dead on 

 August 28th, and even then she made a very fair cabinet specimen. 



This small experiment was very interesting to me, as I did not 

 think the imaginal existence of a Chrysopid in a wild state extended 

 to so long a period ; and it also suggested to me, that possibly Aphides 

 may phty an important part in the food of the imagines, as well as of 

 the larvse, by pioviding them with honey dew. But the most interest- 

 ing feature of my second female's existence was that she provided me 

 with seventeen more ova. I suppose she must have paired with the 

 odd male when I put them all together on July 28th. On August 12th 

 I found eight ova on the fir " needles." By the 14th two more had 

 been laid. Another on the 15th, yet another on the 16th, and five 

 more on the 18th. 



The first laid ova hatched on the 16th and 17th, and others 

 followed on August 24th, 25th, and 28th. These larvae took longer to 

 feed up than the first one, the larval period lasting nearly a month. 

 This I think was owing to the colder weather. The fortnight of the 

 first larva's existence comprised the only hot spell of weather which 

 we experienced during the very wet and cold summer of 1909, and 

 I have always found that the larvEe of the Chrysopich^ develop much 

 more rapidly in heat than in a cold temperatiu-e, when they seem to 

 become shiggish, and to show a reluctance to feed. 



