A TACTFUL MOTHEE 129 



problem satisfactorily, and this is her method : When 

 about to lay an egg she places first a minute drop of 

 sticky fluid on the siuf ace of the leaf ; this she spins 

 up into a slender thread by lifting it on the tip of her 

 abdomen as high as she can ; the air dries the thread 

 quickly, and it is strong enough to sustain the egg 

 which she fastens on top of it. The result is that 

 each egg is supported a half inch above the surface of 

 the leaf by a hair-like pedicel. These groups of Ghry- 

 sopa eggs are very pretty and are often mistaken for 

 patches of glistening white fungus upon leaves, for they 

 look more like the spore cases of fungi than like eggs. 

 When the eldest of the family breaks his shell, he 

 drops or scrambles down from his egg perch as best 

 he can, and in his immediate hunt for food wanders 

 harmlessly around the bases of the threads which sup- 

 port his unhatched brothers and sisters far above his 

 head and probably beyond his sight. His rapid-mov- 

 ing little legs take him soon far from his birthplace 

 to where unsuspecting aphids are pumping sap, and 

 then the slaughter begins unless, perchance, some ant 

 guardian averts the attack. Each member of the 

 family in its turn follows his example and wanders 

 out into the great world beyond its native leaf, guilt- 

 less of fratricide. Yet if two aphis-lions meet there 

 is likely to be a trial of strength. I saw one once 



