the Biologu of some British Neuroptera. 579 



(1921), May and June. The second brood appears in July 

 and August. In nature both broods are liable to overlap, 

 and some stragglers of the first spin up late and do not 

 emerge until the following year. Stray imagines have been 

 found even at the end of September. 



Eggs are laid on leaves or bark. When on leaves, the 

 usual position is at the edge, on the underside, sometimes 

 at the side of a projecting vein. An oak leaf has the 

 extreme margin slightly curled under, and it is in this 

 curled margin that eggs are most frequently deposited. 

 On holly and other leaves eggs are also laid at the margin. 

 Placed singly, rarely two or three together, the egg is about 

 •5 mm. long, of elongate oval shape, somewhat flattened, 

 and yellowish-white in colour. The chorion is beautifully 

 reticulated, and at the micropylar end there is a small 

 conical projection. The attached side of the egg is flattened. 

 Very little change in colour is noticed, and in from one and 

 a half to two and a half weeks hatching takes place. 



The young larva is white, with the eyes blackish and 

 mouth-parts also somewhat darker. The legs appear 

 long and hairy. As food is taken, a brown central spot 

 appears and the larva approaches the typical form. 



Description of Third-instar Larva. (Plate XLIII, fig. 1.) 



Length when full fed 3-3-5 mm. Body smooth but for fine hairs, 

 SAvollen anteriorly and tapering to the anal extremity. General 

 colour white with a large median brown spot (the colour of food in 

 the alimentary canal), more or less broken up by white (fat body). 



Head small, whitish and partly retracted into prothorax, in life. 

 Antennae about -75 mm. long, having a broad basal joint and a 

 longer, rather narrower distal portion, plumose with fine hairs. 

 The ratio of basal to distal portion varies in this species between 

 1 : 10 and 1 : 6-6. Eyes dark crimson, appearing black. Jaws 

 castaneous. Palpi three-jointed, the terminal joint largest and 

 swollen. On the sides of the head, the tentorium is visible through 

 the skin as blackish lines. 



Thorax broad, composed of three nearly equal segments. Pro- 

 thorax white anteriorly and laterally, appearing dark brown in 

 the centre. Mesothorax white laterally, the middle area of the 

 anterior half, brown. In the middle of posterior half are two white 

 spots, sometimes forming a complete white band across. The meta- 

 thorax is similar to the mesothorax, but the posterior half often 

 TRANS. ENT. SOC. LOND. 1922, PARTS III, IV. (FEB. '23) Q Q 



