When the young lace-wings come out of the eggs, they feed on the little aphis. You remember the aphis makes the honey that ants are so fond of.
In two weeks these larvæ change to pupæ. To do this the lace-wing larva spins a nice silk ball, in which it goes to bed for a nap while it is a pupa.
In this, you see, it is not at all like the young dragon-fly, which hunts and runs about while it is a pupa. The ball of the sleeping lace-wing is about the size and shape of a wild pea, or vetch seed.
The lace-wings are short lived. One summer makes a lifetime for them. In a summer they grow from infancy to age, make all their changes, and live out their time as complete insects.
When the lace-wing is dead, it loses all its fine colors in a very few hours.
LESSON XLV.
THE WINGS OF THE DRAGON-FLY.
We can find no better example than the dragon-fly, of the way in which insects behave when they leave the pupa-case.
You know that this case is horny or tough, and always seems smaller than the grown-up insect; so the insect must be very closely packed in.
No person could pack a new insect back into the case it has just left.