NEUROPTERA. 



225 



median veins are separate, and the transverse veins of the costal 

 space are not forked. 



The lace-winged Flies are very common insects throughout the 

 summer months upon herbage and the foliage of trees. They are 

 usually of a light green color or yellowish. While alive their eyes 

 are very bright ; and on this account they have also received the 

 popular name of Golden-eyed Flies. Some species, when handled, 

 emit a very disagreeable odor. A remarkable fact in the history of 

 these insects is the way in which the female cares for her eggs. 

 When about to lay an egg she emits from the end of her body a 

 minute drop of a tenacious substance ; this is drawn out into a 

 slender thread by lifting the abdomen : then an egg is placed on the 

 summit of this thread. The thread dries at once and firmly holds 

 the egg in mid-air. These threads are usually 10 to 15 mm. (0.4 to 0.6 

 inch) in length, and occur singly or in groups. It is probable that 

 this, placing of the eggs on stalks protects them from the ravages of 

 predaceous insects, including the aphis-lions themselves. When the 

 young aphis-lion hatches it crawls down the thread that held up the 

 egg, and starts in quest of some small insect or egg which it can 

 feed upon. While doing so it may wander through a forest of egg- 

 stalks, not observing the eggs far above it. The larvae are spindle- 

 form, and have long, sickle-shaped mandibles. They feed chiefly on 

 plant-lice, but will eat such other injects as they can overcome. The 

 cocoon in which the pupa state is passed is spherical, and composed 

 of dense layers of silk. In order to emerge the insect cuts a circular 

 lid from one side of the cocoon. 



Sub-family IV. MYRMELEONIN^:. 

 (Ant-lions et al.} 



The members of this sub-family can'be distinguished from other 

 Hemerobiadse by the form of the antennae. Two types of antenna? 

 exist in the sub-family, but in each the organs are enlarged at or 

 near the tip ; while in other Hemerobiadae the antennas are with- 

 out a terminal enlargement. 



The genera of this sub-family constitute two groups, each of 

 which is represented in our fauna by a well-known genus. These 

 two genera include nearly all of our species. The first group is 

 represented by Myrmeleon. Here the.antennse are short and gradu- 

 ally thickened towards the tip. In the second group, represented 



