Lace-wing Flies. 



385 



Lace-wing Flies. 



Among the familiar objects of what we ma\- term garden entomology, one of 

 the best known is the green lace-wing ffy or golden-eye. It is not a fiy in the true 

 sense — a creature with two wings only — for this has four, and they are nearly equal 

 in size. It is more nearly akin to the ant-lion fly, the caddis-fl\', and the dragon-fly, 

 than to the house-fly and the hover-fly. It will be noticed that the wing is weak in 

 structure and not capable of powerful flight, there being only one strong nervure, 

 just within the front border. Although the rest of the wing is entirely covered with 

 a network of fine veins that has suggested the appropriate name of lace-wing, there 

 is nothing suflicientlv substantial to indicate swift or prolonged flight. So we find 

 the lace-wing fluttering silently 

 through the air as lightly as a 

 snowflake. The common species, ^ 

 to which we particularly allude, is 

 a delicate green in colour, the wings 

 transparent and shining, but the 

 most striking features are the 

 prominent eyes, which to appear- 

 ance are of shining gold. From 

 this circumstance the Insect is 

 also known as the golden-eye. 

 There are a great number of species 

 known, and of these fifteen are 

 natives of Britain, but the differ- 

 ences between them are such as 

 appeal more to the specialist than 

 to ordinary readers, and a state- 

 ment of the life-history of the 

 common species will a])ply gene- 

 rally to tlie group. Sonie of the 

 species give off a very unpleasant 

 odour, which has earned for them 

 the alternative name of stink- 

 flies. 



The eggs of the lace- wing are laid in an extraordinary manner, so that few persons 

 seeing them for the first time would imagine they were what the\' really are. They 

 are like the finest conceivable of entomological pins, half an inch long, with seed- 

 pearls for heads. The early naturalists, indeed, imagined they were the fruit of 

 some kind of moss, and classified them as such. In most cases they are sufficiently 

 far apart to keep their stalks quite distinct, but in some species they are so close 

 that the stalks unite. The lace-wing will at times afford us a demonstration of the 

 way in which these remarkable footstalks are contrived. When about to lay, the 

 tip of her hind-bodv is brought into contact wuth the leaf or shoot she has selected, 

 and a minute globule of gum is attached. Then, elevating her body to the full 



1 Chrysopa perla. 



V 



J'holo by] [H. Main, F.E.S. 



The Grub ov the Lace-wing. 



This active little croatuiv has a hue pair of sharp-pointed jaws with which 

 he impales many green-fly and through which he sucks them dry. This 

 beneficent activity continues for a month. Three times the actual size. 



