THE BIoLoGy OF THE CHRYSOPIDAE 13335) 
Length of oviposition period and number of eggs laid.—The usual 
statements on the length of the egg-laying period are that the adult is 
short-lived and that oviposition lasts for only a few days. Great varia- 
tion occurred in rearings, undoubtedly due to the fact that few if any 
females deposited their full complement of eggs. The largest number 
of eggs obtained from any one individual was 617, from a female of 
Chrysopa oculata which lived for forty-two days. The second largest 
number was 470, from a female of the same species which lived for 
thirty-four days. There was but one copulation in each case and no 
infertile eggs were noticed. In both cases egg-laying continued up to 
the day preceding death. Female No. 63 of this same species deposited 
326 eggs and then died. On opening the abdomen, 13 nearly mature 
eggs were seen. Other records in this and other species were in the 
main smaller than the above numbers, ranging from 294 to 0. The 
number of eggs that can be deposited is evidently larger than has been 
previously reported. 
Length of life 
There is considerable variation in the length of life of different 
individuals. During an attempt to winter adults, a female of Chrysopa 
rufilabris lived for eighty-one days and a male of C. quadripunctata for 
fifty-nine days. The periods given in the preceding paragraph are the 
longest records for females of C. oculata, while the longest record for a 
male was thirty days. Adults of this species usually lved for two or 
three weeks in rearings, but the less common species, as C. harris, 
C. lineaticornis, Allochrysa virginica, and the species of Meleoma, could 
not be kept alive longer than a week, or at most ten days. Adults of 
Chrysopa plorabunda have been kept alive from October to April. but 
during the summer have not remained alive for more than three weeks. 
NUMBER OF GENERATIONS IN A YEAR 
The number of generations varies with the different species and 
with the latitude. A pair of the species Chrysopa oculata emerged in 
the laboratory on February 18, 1915, and by July 1 four generations 
had been reared. From fragmentary outdoor rearings and collections, 
there are apparently three generations of C. oculata in New York and 
four in Virginia. There are very likely four generations of C. plora- 
bunda in Kansas, but only two of C. cockerelli. There are two genera- 
tions of C. lineaticornis in Virginia, but collections would indicate only 
one of Allochrysa virginica. 
