Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/214



F...__..¢.., « perament to match, ' -"--- '>'..//x is. also a common. /  y trequenter ot the ///ff/  / aphid colonies and Vffffl levies a toll on the /////ï{ lives of the meek o/// k B .d h¢lplCs i.s¢cs. & ç This marauder is 0   well named the apkis-lion. He is the larva of a gentle, harmless creature with large pale-green lacy wings and brilliant golden eyes (F@ m4A). The parent femmes show a remarkable prescience of the nature of their oflpring, lr they sup- port their eggs on the tips of long

threadlike FIa. Io4. Thegolden- eye, Chrysopa, the par- stalks, tlSU- ent of the aphis-lion, allyattached and its eggs tO the under A, the adult insect. B, a group of eggs sup- surfaces of ported on long thread- leaves (B). like stalks on the under surface of a leaf The device seems to be a scheme for preventing the first of the greedy brood that will hatch from devouring its own brothers and sisters still in their eggs. Wherever the aphids are crowded there is almost sure to be seen crawling among them soft grayish or green wormlike creatures, mostly less than a quarter of an inch in length. The body is legless and tapers to the forward end,

FIG. o 5. A larva ofa syrphus fly feeding on aphids

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