AMERICAN NEUROPTERA. 139 



eggs are laid in groups of from eight to thirty (C. oculata), in others 

 the eggs occur singly ( C. rufilabris). In the latter class the pedicel 

 is often shorter than in the former group. In many cases the eggs 

 are laid in proximity to colonies of plant-lice, upon which the larva 1 

 are destined to feed. Sometimes, however, the larvae are obliged to 

 search for food. 



At the top of each egg is a micropyle — a cup shaped piece pro 

 jecting above the surface, with a minute central pore. The top of 

 the egg is irregularly reticulate ; the base is more pointed than the 

 top. The egg in a day or so becomes darker, and cracks across the 

 top and partly down one side. Through this slit the larva crawls 

 out. t is very bristly, has a big head, and a tapering body. The 

 jaws are very large, the antennae long and curved, and the palpi 

 broad and project out in front. -The legs are slender, and each 

 tipped with two claws and a longer median sucker. The larva of 

 each species is characteristic, though larvae of closely allied forms 

 differ hut little. 



The larva crawls down the pedicel to the leaf, and soon moults. 

 Fitch has recorded that in some species the first food of the larva 

 was eggs of other insects, after which the larva attacked plant lice. 

 In other species, however, the larvae do attack plantdice for their 

 first meal, and are not as timid as Dr. Fitch records of the larva he 

 observed. As the larva grows in size it becomes more fusiform in 

 shape, and in many species each segment develops a lateral protuber- 

 ance bearing a bunch of bristles. The color becomes darker and 

 often spotted ; the larvae of the few species known to me being marked 

 in a different manner. The question of the larval moults is one of 

 peculiar interest. The new born larva soon moults as is readily ob- 

 servable ; but from this time till it moults within the cocoon most 

 authors have observed no moulting. Fitch and Schneider record 

 that they have not seen a moult, and I have watched in vain. Vine 

 describes one moult about midway in larval life. 



The larvae of some species cover themselves with a pile of debris, 

 made up of the skins of their victims. This scalp-carrying habit is 

 also found in the larvae of some Hemerobiids. It is a protection ; 

 but some species that do not have it are extremely numerous and 

 appear moderately free from parasites. In travelling about on the 

 leaf or bark the larva walks in a restless, interrupted way, turning 



TKANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXIX. APRIL, 1903. 



