38 



whitish markinfrs along the sides, and a dark central stripe. They all have long, narrow 

 bodies, and are furnished with six rather long legs, and two long and slender, but powerful 

 jaws, curved like a sickle, and down each side of the body is a row of tubercles, each tubercle 

 being tipped with a cluster of spreading hairs or spines. Dr. Fitch mentions a novel use to 

 which these hairs are put. He says that these voracious creatures often conceal themselves 

 from view by placing the empty skins of the victims they have devoured, between their radi- 

 ating bristles so that they adhere, and thus completely hide the insect from view. It is the 

 skins of the woolly plant lice that they mostly employ for this purpose, and thus covered they 

 resemble a little mass of white down adhering to' the bark of the tree, presenting just such an 

 appearance as does a little colony of woolly plant lice. By this device they are enabled to 

 approach their victims without exciting their alarm, and to quietly devour them one 

 by one." 



The larva of one of the Lacewing flies is also an enemy of another pest of all orchards 

 — the Curculio. Tn the "American Entomologist," vol. i., we find it stated that the 

 larva of a Chrijsopa was found inside a peach which had been badly bored by a Curculio, 

 and the larva of the Clirysopa was actually preying on that of the Curculio, one half of 

 which it had already sucked dry. The observer who reported this case states that he has 

 since found over a hundred of these Lacewing larvae engaged in the same good work. 



In the autumn of 1846, Dr. Shimer observed the larvae of a common species of Lace- 

 wing fly (Chrysopa plorabimda, Fitch) feeding voraciously on Chinch Bugs, which had 

 swarmed over a field of fodder-corn, and were rapidly destroying it. The Lacewing flies 

 were so abundant that this observer states that there were one or more of them for every 

 stalk of the thickly sown corn, and every stroke of the cutter would raise three or four 

 dozen of them, presenting quite an interesting spectacle as they staggered along in their 

 awkward, unsteady flight. Dr. Shimer reared great numbers of the larvae to the mature 

 state by feeding them on Chinch Bugs, and his account of the operations of the larvss 

 when in captivity is so interesting we give it in full, from Dr. Shimer's Paper in Proc. Ent. 

 Soc. Fhil, IV., pp. 209, 210. 



" I placed one of the larvae in a vial after having captured it in the field in the very 

 act of devouring Chinch Bugs of all sizes, and subsequently introduced into the vial a 

 number of Chinch Bugs. They had hardly reached the bottom before it seized one of 

 the largest ones, pierced it with its long jaws, held it almost motionless for about a 

 minute while it was sucking the juices from the body of its victim, and then threw down the 

 lifeless shell. In this way I saw it destroy in quick sucoession about a dozen bugs. Towards 

 the last, as its appetite was becoming satiated, it spent five or more minutes sucking the juices 

 from the body of one bug. After this bountiful repast it remained motionless for an hour 

 or more, as if asleep. Never for a single moment during the feast did it pause in the 

 work. When not in possession of a bug it was on the search for, or in pursuit of, others. 

 It manifested much eagerness in the pursuit of its prey, yet not with a lion-like boldness, 

 for on several occasions I observed a manifest timorousness, a halting in the attack, as if 

 conscious of danger in its hunting expeditions, although there was none. Sometimes, 

 when two or more bugs were approaching rapidly, it would shrink back from the attack, 

 and, turning aside, go in pursuit of others. At length, awakening, it would renew the 

 assault as before. On one occasion, when it was on the side of the vial, two inches up, 

 with a large bug in its mouth, I jarred the vial, so that it fell to the bottom and rolled 

 over and over, but, holding on to its prey, it regained its footing and mounted up to its 

 former position. Occasionally the Chinch Bugs would hasten to escape when pursued, as 

 if in some degree conscious of danger." 



Here we may insert the opinion of Dr. Le Baron, State Entomologist for Illinois, 

 U. S., in his second Annual Report, which is that it is only occasionally that the Lace- 

 wings are seen where Chinch Bugs abound, and they are nowhere numerous enough to 

 ^ake any perceptible impression on their multitudinous host. 



The larvae of the Apple Leaf Skeletonizer {Pempelia Hammondi, Biley), is also 

 preyed upon by the larvae of some Lacewing fly, and its round, white cocoon may 

 often be found among the skeletonized leaves. (Riley's Fourth Annual 'Report for State 

 Missouri, p. 45.) 



These benefits are not all to be ascribed to the larvae of one Lacewing fly, for there 

 are several species {Chrysopa oculata, Say ; C. plorahmula, Fitch ; C. rujilabris, Burm., &c.) 



