ON THE MOUTH OF THE LARVA OF CHRYSOPA

Extract

Recently I had the opportunity of watching in a live box, under a low power of the microscope, the seizing and devouring of some plant-lice by the larva of an undetermined species of Chrysopa, and was interested in the manner in which it emptied the body of its victims. The jaws are large, hooked, pointed and tubular, with a small opening at or near the points. Approaching its prey the body of the Aphis is grasped by the hooked mandibles which at the same time pierce it. The Chrysopa larva remains stationary, and proceeds to pump its victim dry. At the base of each of the mandibles the integuments are dilated into a sac-like form capable of expansion and compression at will, a portion of the thorax is similarly constructed, and it is by the repeated dilating and compressing of these sacs that the fluid contents of teh body of the Aphis are transferred through the tubular mandibles to the stomach of the Chrysopa larva.