OF HARTING. 361 



speck of glittering matter attached to the leaf or twig. 

 The substance of which these pedicles are formed, is a 

 viscid secretion from the oviduct of the female, and, 

 like the silk of the caterpillar, dries and hardens very 

 quickly when extruded, so that by the time each egg 

 is laid, the footstalk, of which it is a continuation, has 

 become sufficiently rigid to support it in an erect 

 position on a horizontal surface. In the insect world 

 parasites are so numerous, and their attacks are so 

 fatal, that entomologists regard this exceptional fea- 

 ture in oviposition as a special provision for the 

 security of the eggs against their foes. We have 

 often found these curious objects in clusters of from 

 five or six to upwards of twenty, and those from 

 which the larvae had escaped, were not unlike the 

 empty capsules of a species of moss, without the oper- 

 cula and very regularly denticulated on their margins. 

 In about a fortnight after the deposition of the eggs, 

 the larvae make their debut, and without loss of time 

 descend the pedicles to enter upon their avocations. 

 They each possess six legs and a pair of enormous 

 mandibles, and for the space of another fortnight or 

 thereabouts, their activity and voracity enable them 

 to commit such havoc among the plant-lice, that they 

 become entitled to the popular designation of "Aphis- 

 Lions." They do not, however, restrict their appetite 

 to Aphides alone, other small insects that come in 

 their way are readily preyed upon by them, not even 

 excepting individuals of their own species. They 

 never masticate or crush their food, but extract the 

 fluids of their victims by a process analogous to that 

 of suction, rejecting the drier portions of their bodies 

 as useless, and in this way they dispose of an incredible 

 number of noxious insects until they are full-fed. They 

 then become inactive pupae, and in this form spend the 

 winter in their cocoons, from which they burst forth 

 the following summer in all the delicate beauty and 

 with all the indelicate effluvium of the perfect lace- 

 winged flies. 



