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[Vol. 94 
requiring adult prey for proper egg maturation (Tauber and Tauber, 
1973), was given Aphis fabae Scopoli raised on greenhouse-grown 
Nasturtium sp. Meleoma emuncta adults were fed a mixture of 
assorted pollens and honey (J. Johnson, Univ. of Idaho, pers. com.). 
All larvae were fed ether-killed Drosophila spp. every 2-3 days. 
Photoperiod was manipulated for C. downesi to break adult repro- 
ductive diapause (Tauber and Tauber, 1976); for other species, con- 
stant long-day (17L:7D) light regimes were maintained. 
We took three simple experimental approaches: (1) Field- 
captured, gravid females were allowed to oviposit freely without 
re-mating. From this, we could assess the extent of egg productivity 
possible from sperm in reserve under natural conditions. (2) Young 
(two-week-old), laboratory-reared virgin females were mated as 
often as they would accept previously unmated males, while others 
of the same cohort were mated just once; whenever possible, copula- 
tion duration was noted. Egg production and sexual receptivity 
were monitored for each female throughout the experiment. This 
approach was designed to determine the extent of polyandry, the 
number of eggs produced per copulation, and the relationships 
among sexual receptivity, re-mating, copulation duration, and egg- 
laying. Sexual receptivity, which is lost in female lacewings after 
copulation, was assessed by playing back species-appropriate songs 
to the insects and waiting for “answers” (abdominal dueting behav- 
ior [see Henry, 1985a, b]). To minimize the effects of aging on 
fecundity, insects that had been sexually mature for more than two 
weeks were excluded from these studies. Maturity, in turn, was 
judged by the onset of sexual receptivity. (3) Finally, individual 
two-week-old males were re-mated to unmated, receptive females at 
1-3 day intervals, until they could no longer copulate. This provided 
estimates of sperm transferred and accepted per copulation, degree 
of polygyny, and minimum total lifetime reproductive potential for 
each male. Females were selected from cohorts of the same age as 
the males. Since a single male could easily mate with many females, 
we were forced in one case (male H of Table 6) to recruit two-week- 
old virgin females after the 18th copulation. 
All three approaches above shared one simple but important pro- 
tocol: count every egg and determine whether or not it had been 
fertilized. Counting was facilitated by the egg stalk so typical of the 
green lacewings: each egg could be clipped cleanly from its substrate 
and placed on the filter paper floor of a 10 cm plastic petri dish for 
