A small brown lacewing (Hemerobiidae, Neuroptera) rests for a moment on the lip of a drinking glass.

Sometimes the freak show comes inside the house. I found this neat little surprise of an insect, just hanging out on a wall. I don’t run across too many lacewings, and most are usually uncooperative models of the green variety. Instead of letting it become spider bait, I did what I usually do when I find an insect (usually moths or beetles) indoors. I tried to show it out. (Of course, if they’re interesting enough, and I have time to spare, I take some photographs. This guy was cooperative for long enough to get a couple decent shots. When the lacewing became active, I decided that I had better release.) Well, as it turned out, I underestimated this lacewing’s ability to escape. Before I could get the door open, it dropped off the glass and…disappeared. I kinda huffed at that point, a little perturbed at the ingratitude, but the lacewing was long gone in an instant, lost to the interior jungles of my home, never to be heard from again.