84 
NOTES ON CHRYSOPA PERLA AND 
C. FLAVA. 
By E. MAUDE ALDERSON, F.E.S., 
Worksop. 
In the following notes I have endeavoured to compile a 
summary of the observations which I jotted down in my 
entomological diary during the breeding of the above two 
species of Chrysopide. 
The most interesting points seem to me to be the existence 
of what I have regarded, perhaps incorrectly, as a sub-imaginal 
stage in the life history of the genus, and also the presence 
in each species of some very characteristic markings on the 
head. These are so striking and so diverse (in the species 
which I have seen and in the few drawings I have been able 
to find in books) that I should think they must form a very easy, 
if superficial, means of identification of species in the larval 
stage. 
The presence of the sub-imaginal stage, if correct, seems 
to form a strong link between this group and the Hphemeride. 
C. perla.—On June 29th of last year (1905) I obtained a 
F of Chrysopa perla, and found, on opening the chip box in 
which I had placed her, that she had deposited several ova. 
She remained alive until July rst, and at the end of that time had 
laid about a dozen ova. Each ovum was deposited separately. 
They were placed at random all over the box; and of a bright, 
shining bluish-green colour, almost exactly the shade of the 
green parts of the body of the parent. The ova were on long 
foot-stalks, 5-6 mm. in length, and were very beautiful objects. 
As I was leaving home within the next few days, I took the 
ova with me in order to observe them closely. By July 3rd 
they had lost their brilliance, and assumed a greyish tinge. 
This gradually deepened until the period of hatching, when they 
appeared wholly grey, the change in colour being evidently due to 
the young larve showing through the transparent shells. The 
young larve all emerged after just a week—July 7th-8th. They 
were grey in colour, and soon became very active. I fed them 
with ‘green fly,’ and they grew surprisingly quickly. I could 
not observe any change of skin, but at the rate at which they 
increased, I should think they must have moulted two or three 
times at least. 
The young larvee were most active at night; and as I kept 
Naturalist, 
