202 rReptember, 



because the integument has become harder and the insect has the power 

 of riight, giving it a ready means of escaping from enemies less active or 

 not similarly endowed. 



The imago is found from June to September, but the majority of 

 specimens appear to mature during Juty. There are no records what- 

 ever of its occurrence in the winter or spring, and it may safely be 

 concluded that the insects perish in the autumn, after having made 

 provision for the next generation by laying eggs which will not hatch 

 till the next spring or early summer. Such a course seems to hold good 

 for the majority of our Palaearctic Ccrpsidae, though not for quite all of 

 them, for some few species get through the winter as adults and appear 

 in the open again in the following spring. 



This insect occurs most commonly by sweeping amongst nettles and 

 other luxuriant low herbage, and it has only occasionally been found 

 upon trees. Besides nettles, Reuter gives the following list of plants as 

 affording it shelter: — Carduas o'is^ms, Lamium, Ballofa. Seiiecio, 

 Verhascum, JRosa, Pnuius, Carphius, Corylus, Lririd\ and Pinus 

 si/lvesfris : Douglas and Scott add bramble Howers, and it is often foiuid 

 in gardens upon fruit bushes. This is certainly a curious mixture, and 

 can hardly in all cases mean diet ; in fact, it lends further countenance 

 to the idea of jwedatory habits. But there are other records which make 

 this more than a mere idea. Douglas speaks of a brood as having taken 

 possession of a clump of raspberry plants in his garden ; they were born 

 and bred there and mostly remained, and he adds, " Like all other 

 Ccqysidae, it is credited with being a feeder on the juices of leaves, and 

 I was, therefore, somewhat surprised yesterday to see one individual that 

 was not a vegetarian. On the flower-umbels of a Heracleum, the stems 

 of which were literally covered with larvae of a pale green Aphid, the 

 Caj)sus stood motionless, rostrum exserted and arched, the tip in the 

 ])ody of one of the Aphids, and so gently inserted (after the manner in 

 which Izaak Walton advises a hook to be passed into a worm), that 

 there was no resistance by the victim. If this was the beginning of a 

 feast, there was an abundant supply of the delicacy to continue the 

 revel, which, in the nature of things, could not last long.'' The next 

 day the same observer records, " To-day I witnessed the assault of a 

 Capsus laniarius [_ruher'] on one of the aforesaid Ajihids which, how- 

 ever, did not take it quietly, but at first resisted vehemently, but 

 ineffectually, the rapidly exhausting effect of the insertion of the rostral 

 lancet into its body. There were three others of the Capsus on the 

 leaves of the plant, resting, presumabl}"^ after an aphidian banquet." 



