LACEW1NGS 59 



Members of the second lacewing family l are often 

 called " golden-eyes," owing to the peculiar metallic 

 lustre of the eyes in the living insect. There are 

 about fifteen British species, which may be dis- 

 tinguished from the HemeroUida by their relatively 

 longer antennae, the joints of which are cylindrical, 

 not bead-like. They are extremely delicate and 

 beautiful insects, green or greenish-yellow in colour ; 

 but when handled they leave an unpleasant smell 

 upon the fingers. Hence they have been dubbed 

 with a third popular name to wit, " stink-flies.' 7 

 Their eggs, which are fixed to the leaves and stems of 

 plants, are very remarkable objects, each being sup- 

 ported upon an immensely long stalk. Dr. L. O. 

 Howard, the great American entomologist, states that 

 the larvae are so voracious that the first one to hatch 

 would eat up all the other eggs if the latter were laid 

 side by side on the surface of a leaf in the more usual 

 manner ; but this explanation is open to criticism. 

 The eggs of some species are found in compact 

 clusters ; but they appear more often to be laid singly 

 one here, another there. The newly hatched larva 

 climbs down its egg-stalk and begins to hunt for the 

 aphides on which it preys. It feeds in a peculiar 

 manner, holding the victim high in the air with its 

 long jaws until it has sucked the carcass dry. Some 

 of these larvae cover themselves with the skins of their 

 victims ; others use green algae or fragments of moss 

 or lichen for the same purpose ; but the majority go 

 unclothed. The tip of the abdomen is provided with 

 a kind of sucker, which is used both as a lever to 

 assist locomotion, and as an attachment by means of 

 which the insect can hang from a leaf or twig. When 

 1 Chrysopidce. 



