INSECTS
Fig. 104. The golden-eye, Chrysopa, the parent of the aphis-lion, and its eggs
A, the adult insect. B, a group of eggs supported on long threadlike stalks on the under surface of a leaf
perament to match, is also a common frequenter of the aphid colonies and levies a toll on the lives of the meek and helpless insects. This marauder is well named the aphis-lion. He is the larva of a gentle, harmless creature with large pale-green lacy wings and brilliant golden eyes (Fig. 104 A). The parent females show a remarkable prescience of the nature of their offspring, for they support their eggs on the tips of long threadlike stalks, usually attached to the under surfaces of leaves (B). 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.
Fig. 150. A larva of a syrphus fly feeding on aphids
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,
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