THE BIoLOGY OF THE CHRYSOPIDAE 1303 
Food offered to the larva up to forty-five minutes after emergence 
was rejected, but at the end of one and one-half hours the larva attacked 
a large aphid of its own accord and exhausted the fluids. 
Later molts 
About four days after the first molt, another molt occurs. The second 
molt is effected exactly like the first. 
The final molt cannot be observed through the cocoon, but one can 
readily tell when the larva has pupated by the dark disk at the bottom of 
the cocoon. If a cocoon showing this disk be opened, it will be seen that 
the disk is the last larval skin which is pushed off the abdomen and 
rests at the bottom of the case. This molt may be observed if the larva 
fails to spin a cocoon, which ean be brought about by disturbing it 
while it is spinning. It generally refuses to spin further if disturbed, 
and coils up in the bottom of the vial and pupates(Plate LXXXVIT, 16). 
The old larval skin splits over the thorax, and by the raising and lower- 
ing of the head the skin is slowly moved back (Plate LXXXVII, 5). 
Further movements up and down on the thorax and the abdomen cause 
the skin to slip over the abdomen, and it finally rests near the end of the 
abdomen at the bottom of the cocoon. 
The trash carriers present complications in the molting process in that 
they carry packets of debris on their backs. In the few cases observed, 
the packet was cast off at the molting time and was reformed of fresh 
materials. If there were no fresh materials provided, the old packet was 
reappropriated. Lefroy (Lefroy and Howlett, 1909) described a simi- 
lar form in India which carried such a packet, and stated that the packet 
was shed with each molt and was reformed from new materials. 
Morphology 
A number of very interesting features are illustrated by the mor- 
phology of the larva. The original somewhat detailed account must be 
omitted for the sake of brevity, and only a few features are here included. 
Perhaps the most striking specialization in the family is the pro- 
longation of the maxillae-and the mandibles to form sucking tubes. 
These are held together by a flange which fits into a groove, and the 
small canal between them serves to convey their liquid food to the 
pharynx. The true mouth is mechanically closed, but may be opened 
by probing with a dissecting needle. It is somewhat reduced in size. 
In the thorax and the abdomen, each segment is made up of two 
parts, or subsegments, which are in most cases quite apparent. The 
anterior subsegment is very much smaller than the posterior one. The 
