Mkkmeleonid^.- 



-INSECTS.- 



-Hemerobiid.e. 



251 



better, for he instautly settled for a few minutes on a 

 twig on tiie bank, as their manner invariably is when 

 they take prey, to eat it. 



Family— MYRMELEONID^ (Ant-lions). 



A large and imporLint family of insects, the larvje 

 of which are called Ant-lions, from their digging 

 pits and laying in wait for ants or other insects, 

 which, passing near the edge of their pitfalls, often 

 tumble down, and when they try to escape are often 

 brought into the very jaws of the former by the shovel- 

 ling up of sand directed against them when beating 

 a retreat. Plate 6, fig. 5, represents the common 

 European species Myrmeleon formicarius and its larva, 

 pupa, and its globular cocoon. 



The African Ant-lions, and some of the Indian 

 species, are very large, and have spotted wings. 



The genus Ascalaphus, has long clubbed antennae. 

 Plate 6, fig. 3, represents the Ascalaphus harbants, 

 a species of this very distinct genus. 



Family— HEMEROBIIDiE {Lace-wing Flies). 



: There is a family of insects, the grubs of which are 

 famed for their wholesale destruction of those noisome 

 insects, the plant-lice. This family, the Hiinerobiidce, 

 are generally of a pale-green colour, with four large 

 wings delicately netted with veins, from which they 

 liave obtained the name of Lace-wing flies. Their 

 eggs are large and projecting, and have a brilliant 

 golden hue, whence the insects are often called Golden- 

 eyed tlies. Pretty as they are, when taken in the hand, 

 they emit a most disagreeable smell not easily got rid 

 of. The eggs are raised on a longisb thread. Dr. 

 Fitch has thus described the process of their oviposi- 

 tion. "Nature has furnished these insects with a fluid 

 analogous to that which spiders are provided with for 

 spinning their webs, which possesses the remarkable 

 property of hardening immediately on being exposed 

 to the air. When ready to drop an egg, the female 

 touches the surface of the leaf with the end of her 

 body, and then elevating the latter, draws out a slender 

 thread like a cobweb, half an inch long, or less, and 

 places a little oval egg at its summit. Thus, a small 

 round spot resembling mildew is formed upon the 

 surface of the leaf, from the middle of which arises a 

 very slender, glossy, white thread, which is sometimes 

 split at its base, thus giving it a more secure attach- 

 ment than it would have if single." * The grub leaves 

 the egg in less than a week after it is deposited ; seve- 

 ral of these eggs may often be seen together, after the 

 lurvse are hatched. Dr. Fitch has shown, that when 

 first hatched, these grubs feed chiefly on the eggs of 

 insects, and in this way must destroy great numbers of 

 noxious creatures. This, too, accounts for the reason 

 why the female places her eggs on these hair-like 

 pedicels ; it is to keep them from the attacks of their 

 own kind. As they increase in size, the larvje become 

 truly " aphis-lions," laying hold of the plant-lice, and 

 sucking out their juices. The jaws of these grubs are 

 long, and sickle-shaped, and well fitted to probe the 

 • Dr. Fitch's Report ou Noxious and Beneiicia! Injects, p. 71. 



often narrow crevices and fissures in which their prey 

 lurks. Some of the species cover themselves with the 

 skins of their victims, which are supported on their 

 backs by the radiating bristles which clothe them. 

 When the larva has attained its full growth, it becomes 

 inactive, and spins a cocoon ; the tail exuding a glutin- 

 ous secretion, which hardens on exposure to the air. 

 The larvse contract and compress themselves into 

 cocoons scarcely one-fourth their size, and from theso 

 cocoons come flies double the size of the larvae , as Dr., 

 Fitch remarks, it is like a full-grown hen hatching 

 from an ordinary sized egg. 



Fig. 154. 



Hemerobiidee 

 a Leaf with eggs. c Female Lace-wiog. 



b Au egg magiiitied. d .Male of do. 



M. Guerin-Meneville named a most lovely species 

 of Hemerobius Ckrysojm Marionella, after Marion 

 Frances, the youngest of the writer's daughters. 



Dr. Hagen gives the names of thirty-two species of 

 Hemerobiidee as British. These are placed in seven 

 genera as follows : — 



Osmylus, 0. Chrysops, a pretty, brown insect, with 

 the wings spotted with black; it is met with in the 

 month of June, and appears to prefer stony rapid 

 streams which are fringed with alders. The larva hves 

 partly in water ; the cocoon is of irregular form, and 

 composed of spun-silk. In this genus there are ocelli 

 visible. 



Chrysopa, fifteen species. In this genus the ocelli 

 are wanting ; the larva feeds on Aphidae ; the cocoon is 

 in the form of a barrel, and is composed of thick spun 

 silk. For the names and characters of the species 

 the reader is referred to Dr. Hagen's Synopsis, as we 

 cannot give them here. 



Sisyra, two species. The larva lives in water, and 

 has been described by Westwood under the name of 

 Branchiostoma spongillce. 



Micromus, three species. 



Hemerobius, seven species. The larva of the 

 species of this genus preys on Aphida>, and clothes 

 itself with the empty skins of its prey ; the cocoon is 

 oval, and of a gauzy silken texture. 



Drepanoptcryx, Coniopteryx ; the species of the 

 latter are smaU, and covered with a white mealy 

 powder. The larva; live ou fir-trees, the AphidsB 

 frequenting which trees are their food ; the cocoon is 



