A TACTFUL MOTHER 131 



SO much wisdom ; how did they happen to think out 

 sucli a iine scheme ? Scientists will answer that it was 

 not thought out at all, but has been brought about by 

 a certain fairy godmother called "Evolution." They say 

 that long, long ago the Chrysopa ancestresses merely 

 fastened their eggs to the leaf with a drop of sticky 

 fluid ; and probably only a few of the young escaped 

 the fate of filling fraternal stomachs. But there were 

 some mothers which happened to secrete larger drops 

 or raised them by accident a little higher from the sur- 

 face of the leaf, and thus saved more of their children 

 from the cannibalistic attacks of the first-born; and 

 these offspring inherited this saving tendency to place 

 their eggs on pedicels. Thus, little by little, the habit 

 has been developed until we have a family, Chrysopince, 

 that lays eggs upon stalks, while all the Chrysopince 

 that knew no better than to lay their eggs on the sur- 

 face of the leaf were exterminated long ago through 

 their own foolishness and lack of foresight. 



This is what evolutionists would say; and they 

 would also assure us that all insects perform all their 

 wise acts through inherited habit instead of through 

 wise thinking. However, T think it is a prettier theory 

 to believe that mother Lace-wing lays her eggs on stalks 

 just because she wishes her children to be good, and so 

 " leads them not into temptation." 



