NUMBER of FERTILE EGGS 
228 
Psyche 
[Vol. 94 
Figure I . Fertile egg production as a function of time in two females of Chrysopa 
oculata, collected from the field. Eggs were clipped every 3 days. 
were optimal. C. downesi varied considerably more than C. plora- 
bunda in the time spent in copulo, although high variance typified 
both species. 
Discussion 
Female Fecundity. 
Fecundity data on many lacewing species are well summarized in 
Rousset (1983). Our results differ strikingly from those of other 
workers, in the sheer numbers of eggs produced by individual lace- 
wings under a variety of mating protocols. For example, even single- 
mated females of C. plorabunda, C. downesi, C. harrisii, C. 
rufilabris, and C. oculata produced 1000 or more fertile eggs (Table 
2), which is significantly more than previously reported for any 
lacewing. Multiply-mated females increased this figure further, to 
1207 in C. plorabunda and 1286 in C. downesi (Tables 3 and 4). 
(The champion was actually a single-mated C. oculata that depos- 
ited 1289 eggs in 55 days.) The literature reports individual maxima 
of only 617 for C. oculata (Smith, 1922), 850 for C. plorabunda 
(= C. carnea [Stephens]; Hagen and Tassan, 1966), and 189 for C. 
