THE BrIoLoGy OF THE CHRYSOPIDAE 1295 
as Coccinellidae, Chrysomelidae, and various lepidopterous and hymen- 
opterous larvae, are less likely to crush or to eat stalked eges than 
unstalked ones. On the other hand, newly hatched and later first-instar 
larvae can ascend an egg stalk and exhaust the contents of the egg or 
the embryo. Generally speaking, newly hatched larvae first seek aphids 
or other food on the leaf surface, and climb the stalks after failing to 
find food there. Ants can climb up the stalks or bend them over and 
devour the eggs. They were very troublesome in outdoor rearing cages. 
Several species of hymenopterous parasites have been bred from chrys- 
opid eggs. It is thus seen that the stalk offers only partial protection. 
Location 
Eggs may be deposited in a great variety of situations, depending on 
the species. The usual place is on plants provided with food for the 
larvae, not because the adult has the intuition to deposit them there, but 
because she goes to these plants to feed, and, being there, she deposits 
her eggs. Some of the less common species did not oviposit in confine- 
ment, but most species oviposited freely. 
Some eggs have been observed in very unusual places. The shades 
and supports of the electric lights visited during the summer were often 
observed to have eggs deposited on them. Hundreds were deposited 
constantly in these unfavorable places. These eges developed just as 
did eggs more favorably located, the empty shells always being found. 
A student reported that a female Chrysopa flew in through his open 
bedroom window when the light was on in the evening, and the next 
morning he found eggs deposited on his coat, which was hanging over 
a chair. In another student’s room, the writer observed two hatched 
Chrysopa eggs on the chandelier. Brick and stone walls near lights 
and near aphid-infested plants were frequently found to be places of 
Oviposition. Since the larvae are very active, some of those hatching in 
such unfavorable places undoubtedly succeed in finding food, but many 
must perish. 
Arrangement of the eggs 
Eggs laid in the open generally do not have a definite arrangement. 
Occasionally a straight row of ten or fifteen almost equally distant may 
be found across a leaf or on a plant stem. Otherwise the eggs are 
deposited singly or in irregular groups at varying distances apart. 
Chrysopa nigricornis generally deposits its eggs in rather closely 
arranged, irregular groups on leaves of maples, spiraea, and other 
plants. Not infrequently they are in irregular tangled masses without 
any definte arrangement. Such groups can often be identified posi- 
