37 



green of its body is fading, and the fiery splendour, of its eyes is quenched. Lovely as is 

 the insect to the eye, it can offend another sense most grievously, for it possesses a pecu- 

 liarly evil odour, which attaches itself strongly to the finger that crushes it, and cannot be 

 removed without many washings. 



The Lacewing fly is allied to the A.nt-lions, of which we have no genuine representa- 

 tive in England. When in the larval state it is very predaceous, as is betokened by its large 

 and curved mandibles. It feeds mostly on Aphides, of which it devours vast numbers, 

 draining them of their juices, and then covering itself with the emptied bodies of its 

 victims, so as to render itself scarcely distinguishable from the lichens among which it 

 mostly lives. The neck of the larva is very flexible so that it can dart its head in any direc- 

 tion in order to seize its prey. It can eat two large aphides in one minute, and is so vora" 

 cious that if two Lacewing larvae meet each other they are sure to fight, and the conqueror is 

 equally sure to eat the vanquished combatant. These larvae are quick in their growth, and 

 do not require much more than a fortnight before they pass into the pupal state, provided only 

 that they can find an abundant supply of aphides on which to feed. When full fed, the 

 larva spins a cocoon, in which it passes into the pupal and perfect stages. Like the Ant-lion, 

 to which it is allied, it packs itself up in a wonderfully small compass, for the cocoon is only 

 as large as a sweet pea, and very much in the same shape. 



" The eggs of the Lacewing fly are quite as remarkable as the cocoon. They are gener- 

 ally deposited on leaves, bnt instead of being laid directly on the leaf, every egg is fastened 

 to the end of a slender foot stalk about half an inch in length. The footstalk is formed from 

 a viscous matter secreted by the female, and is delicately white and translucent. Mr. G. A. 

 Butler, of the British Museum, told me that he has kept Lacewing flies, and often seen them 

 lay their eggs. The end of the abdomen is first pressed against the leaf, and a tiny drop of 

 the viscous matter deposited. The abdomen is then raised quickly, so as to draw out a 

 thread, which becomes stifi" and hard almost as soon as it comes injcontact with the air. Then 

 the insect pauses a little, and rapidly places an egg on the end of the thread, fixing it there 

 with another tiny drop of the secretion. The eggs are always laid in groups. Some speci- 

 mens in my own collection are laid along a lilac twig, and in all of them the remains of the 

 viscous drops are apparent in the form of a partly conical footstalk, much resembling in 

 shape and translucency the foot and stem of a wine-glass. The eggs themselves are pure 

 white, and, when viewed through a microscope, have something of a papery aspect. They 

 bear a curious resemblance to the capsules of certain mosses, and indeed have been described 

 and figured in books as specimens of British moss." 



The eggs of our Canadian Lacewing fly diff'er in colour from those mentioned in the 

 foregoing description ; they are of a pale green colour when newly deposited, but before 

 hatching they become whitish, and each shows two or three faint dusky transverse bands. 

 The larva leaves the egg in about a week from the time it is deposited, through an opening 

 which it gnaws in the summit, and the shell remains empty, supported on its stalk, somewhat 

 shrivelled, and of a white colour. 



It is the larva of the Lacewing fly which renders such valuable service as to entitle it to 

 a foremost place among our insect friends. This larva feeds on the aphides or plant-lice, 

 which are so abundant on our fruit and forest trees, as well as on lesser plants. 



In the Report of this Society for 1 877 will be found an excellent article on these aphides 

 or plant-lice, by W. Saunders, from which we learn "that in the case of the grain aphis, the 

 wingless females become mothers when three days old, and thereafter produce four little ones 

 every day, so that even in the short space of twenty days, the progeny of one specimen, if all 

 were preserved from destruction, would number upwards of two millions." It is very evi- 

 dent, that were these creatures permitted to increase and multiply at their natural rate with- 

 out material check, ere a few months had elapsed, every green thing on the face of the earth 

 would be so covered with them as to cause general destruction. Now, one of the most effec- 

 tive enemies of these lice is the larva under consideration. Mr. Saunders says: — "the 

 young larva begins at once to seek its food, and if it finds itself in the midst of a colony of 

 plant lice, many of these speedily fall victims to its enormous appetite, but if not so favour- 

 ably situated, a vigorous search is generally rewarded by the finding of a cluster of insects' 

 eggs, or some newly hatched caterpillars, either of which will furnish our young traveller 

 with a dainty meal. The larvae of the different species vary somewhat in colour and orna- 

 mentation, but in most instances the grouud colour is of a dull reddish brown, and there are 



