448 
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 
[Vol. 16 
laying females as late as December 2 but includes no information con¬ 
cerning honeydew production at this time of year. Weed 6 records sexed 
forms in late September and in entire October but makes no mention of 
late honeydew production. Finally Sanborn 7 reports the aphid endur¬ 
ing all temperatures to 0° F. but gives no information regarding its pro¬ 
duction of honeydew at low temperatures. 
According to the information in the Bureau of Entomology files this 
species of aphid has a wide range of host plants but the above record of its 
late production of honeydew at Washington, D. C., is made only from 
observations in which sycamore served as the host. 
LIFE HISTORY OF MICROMUS POSTICUS WALKER 1 
By C. R. Cutright, Ohio Agriculture Experiment Station , Wooster , Ohio 
Abstract 
The Hemerobiid larva, Micromus posticus Walker was collected with other aphid 
predators, the life history worked out and an estimate of its economic status made. 
While collecting aphid predators in the field during the summers of 
1921-22, a Hemerobiid larva was noticed quite often. A number of these 
were brought into the laboratory where they were bred out, the adults 
proving to be those of the brown lacewing, Micromus posticus Walker. 
An attempt was then made to obtain literature dealing with this insect 
but nothing except the description of the adult and a few casual notes 
dealing with the larva were found. 
Rearing 
The eggs that were brought in from the field were placed in vials 
closed with a cotton plug. As soon as they hatched the young larvae 
were transferred to inverted petri dishes where they were provided with 
aphids as food. This method of rearing was very successful but one 
difficulty was encountered. The first instar larvae are very small and 
the exuviae can not be detected by the naked eye. In order to determine 
the time of ecdysis it was therefore necessary to make a microscopic 
examination of the contents of the dish each day. In order to have a 
smaller quantity of material to examine the young larvae were placed 
on white paper and a very small, thin watch glass inverted over them. 
Aphids were then introduced independent of any plant tissue. Exami- 
6 Weed, Clarence M. Insect Life, Vol. 3, pp. 286-287. 
7 Sanborn, Charles Emerson. Kans. Univ. Sci. Bull., Vol. 3 (1904) p. 30. 
Contribution No. 71, from the Dept, of Zoology and Entomology, Ohio State Uni¬ 
versity. 
