556 Mr. C. L, Withycombe's Notes on 



just mentioned the male was of the form carnea, and the 

 female normal green. Late in autumn of the same year a 

 green male was captured and a red female. Examples 

 taken in spring show the same diversity of colour, some 

 being green and others red. Whether the insects can 

 reassume their green colour in spring I cannot say, but eggs 

 have only been obtained from green females. 



Throughout the whole winter the sexual organs remain 

 immature and the body cavity is filled with fat-body. 

 Also it is interesting to note that the spermathecae of females 

 are empty during the winter, so that it is clear that pairing 

 does not take place until the spring. Thus Clirysopa 

 vulgaris is a very interesting exception to all the rest of 

 our British species. 



Chrysopa tenella Schneider. 



Wing expanse 22-30 mm. A delicate little species, with a pale 

 yellow dorsal vitta. Somewhat similar to C. mdgaris in appearance, 

 but venation as in all the other species of Chrysopa. The head has 

 a black spot on each side, on the genae, and also on the sides of the 

 clypeus. Palpi annulated with blackish. Pronotum immaculate. 



Forty or fifty years ago this species was apparently 

 exceedingly rare in Britain, and was not included by 

 MacLachlan in his monograph of 1868. Now it is one of 

 the commonest species of Chrysopa in suburban gardens 

 and elsewhere. In 1878 MacLachlan (10) recorded the 

 species as British, and remarked that it was apparently 

 inodorous. This is certainly not the case, a very powerful 

 odour having been observed on several occasions. 



C. tenella first makes its appearance about the middle 

 of May, and continues on the wdng throughout June and 

 July. A single specimen has been observed to emerge in 

 August, from eggs laid the same year, but otherwise there 

 is no evidence of a second brood. 



The egg (Plate XLII, fig. 8) is very characteristic and can 

 be confused with no other species that I know of, with the 

 possible exception of C. vulgaris. It is -8-- 9 mm. long, pale 

 green, and borne upon a very short, rigid stalk only 2-3 mm. 

 long. The stalk is fixed to the edge of a leaf, and projects 

 outwards from it, in the same plane as that of the leaf. The 

 point of fixation is generally the apex of a tooth of the leaf 

 margin. Occasionally an egg may be found projecting into 

 the space eaten from a leaf by a caterpillar, but always the 



