Here is one on the leaf. See what a little fellow! And how fast it runs!
[Illustration]
We shall have to take it captive, in order to get a chance to see it.
It is a funny little larva, with jaws that are _tre-men-dous_ for one of
its size.
Why do you suppose it has such jaws?
May says, for the usual reason, to eat up other larvæ.
Yes; but wait till I tell you another name for this larva.
It is also called the aphis lion.
Aphis, you know, is the same as aphid, or plant louse. In other words it
is the plant-louse lion.
Ah, yes; you are quite willing it should devour the aphids.
And it does. It is very fond of them, though it will also devour any
unlucky insect it is strong enough to overcome.
It has a terrible appetite, this child of the pretty lacewing.
It would even eat its brothers and sisters before they hatched out of
the egg if it could get at them.
The pretty lacewing knows what an appetite her ever hungry larvæ will
have, and so she protects them against each other.
Clever little mother! she lays the eggs in such a way that the larvæ
that hatch out first cannot devour the rest of the eggs.
How do you think she manages it?
Here are some of her eggs on this leaf.
Yes, John; each one is on top of a slender stalk.
The stalk is of stiff silk.
There they are, like a little forest, with an egg for each tree top.
[Illustration]
When an egg hatches the young aphis lion drops down to the leaf and runs
about like a ravening lion seeking some living thing to devour.
Above his head, quite unsuspected by him, are the eggs out of which his
brothers and sisters have not yet hatched.
What a feast he could have if he knew about it!
And what a sad little cannibal he would be!
The larva of the aphis lion has no distinct thorax. Its legs are
attached to the upper segments of the body, and its metamorphosis is
like that of the corydalus.
When about to become a pupa, it makes for itself a little covering of
white silk. Here it lies quite motionless and undergoes the final
transformation.
Yes, its metamorphosis is complete.
It bites an opening through its silken walls, and out steps--not the
hungry, little, all-devouring aphis lion, but this elegant lady with her
pale-green lacelike wings and her large, golden eyes.
You see the aphis lion is our very good friend.
It helps us get rid of the aphids, and we should never kill a lacewing
or a child of the lacewing.