We have used a PCR assay to screen 404 insects and related arthropods for mariner elements using primers corresponding to amino acids conserved between the mariner elements of Drosophila mauritiana and a moth, Hyalophora cecropia. Potential mariner elements were detected in sixty-three species, representing ten insect orders as well as a centipede and a mite. Phylogenetic analysis of the PCR fragment sequences from thirty species identifies five major subfamilies of mariners. Many species have representatives of multiple subfamilies in their genomes, and the Medfly is an extreme example with representatives of four subfamilies. Two instances of recent horizontal transfer of mariner elements include at least three species each. The widespread but sporadic distribution of mariner elements suggests they are excellent candidates for development as transformation vectors for non-drosophilids.

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June, I97O No. 22 THE NEUROPTERA OF THE BALTIC AMBER. I. ASCALAPHIDAE, NYMPHIDAE, AND PSYCHOPSIDAE 1 BY ELLIS G. VIAcLEOD INTRODUCTION Along with the related Megaloptera and Raphidiodea, fossils representing the Neuroptera (Planipennia) are known from the Permian ot: Russia (Martynova, I962), Au.stralia (Riek, I953), and Kansas? Several o.f these early fossils, such as those of the Palaemerobiidae and Permithonidae, have a decidedly modern aspect anA by the mid-Mesozoic the living families Chrysopidae (Adams, I967), Nymphidae (Adams, I958), and Psychopsidae were already in existence. Other than the Baltic amber, Tertiary deposits have yielded a disappointingly small number of Neuroptera. Among these the Chrysopidae are relatively the most numerous, although in fact they are actually represented by only a small number o ]o.ssils from the Florissant shales of Colorado. and a few additional specimens ]rorn Europe. Both the NIegaloptera and Raphidiodea are known from the Baltic amber (Hagen, I856; Carpenter, I956) from a very limited number of specimens, whereas t'he Neuroptera are much more corn-1Published with the aid of a grant from the Museum o,f Comparative Zoology at Harvard College and funds from NSF Grant GB-19922

The green lacewing Ceraeochrysa smithi (Neuroptera, Chrysopidae), like other members of its family, lays its eggs on stalks, but it is unusual in that it coats these stalks with droplets of an oily fluid. The (Fig. 1 A and B). The number of fluid droplets per stalk was in the range of 3-6 ( Fig. 1 C

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