272 



HAixJJ vriCKE'S SCIENCE. GOSSIP. 



THE THYSA^iURADiE. 



THE inquiries Mliich one often lias to answer 

 lead me to think tbat a few remarks upon the 

 Thysanuradae will be acceptable to the readers of 

 Science-Gossip, particularly to those who, like 

 myself, have had much difficulty in getting- informa- 

 tion about these interesting creatures. For a long 

 time I was in this position ; but the recent papers 

 of Sir John Lubbock, published in the Linnean 

 Society's Transactions, and Dr. Packard's article on 

 Bristletails and Springtails in the American Katuml- 

 ist, have greatly facilitated my studies, and I have 

 much pleasure in acknowledging my obligations. 

 Shortly, it is to be hoped, Sir J. Lubbock's mono- 

 graph will be published, and then students will be 

 able to enter upon the study of the Thysanuradse 

 under greater advantages. 

 The Thysauuradai are divided as follows : — 



THYSANTJEADiE. 



Lepismacles. Poduradoi. 



Japj'x. Smynthurus. 



Campodea. Podura. 



Lepisma. Lipura. 

 Pctrobius. 



The imperfect remarks which I beg to offer in 

 the present article will be restricted to the Lepis- 

 mada?, space being limited; but I hope in a second 

 paper to offer a few notes on the Poduradaj, and I 

 trust that what may be said may be of advantage to 

 some who are working upon the sulyect, and stimu- 

 late one or two new adherents. 



Py the formation of their mouths, which are 

 designed for nibbling their food, the Lepismada; 

 seem to have affinities with some of the Xeuroptera 

 among the insects. But the question as to their 

 proper classification has been a disputed point with 

 several great naturalists. I need only briefly 

 allude to a few of the difficulties that .systematic 

 classifiers have met with. Some, bearing in mind 

 their respiratory system, which in most of the 

 Thysanura is tracheal, and the resemblance which 

 certain species have to the larval condition of some 

 of the Keuroptera, have not hesitated to class them 

 among the insects ; but here they have paused, 

 and between the consideration whether the Thy- 

 sanura should come among the Neuroptera or 

 among the lice and other apterous insects, they 

 seem to have had a severe stiuggle, which ended 

 in this group being shelved altogether, or dismissed 

 with a few superficial remarks. ^ Others, again, 

 have drawn very different conclusions, based on 

 the comparison of certain points in their anatomy, 

 or at least the anatomy of several members of the 

 group, with similar anatomy in the JMyriapoda. 

 These authorities incline to place them at the very 

 bottom of the insects, or at" the top of the ^lyria- 



poda. Among these points may be mentioned that 

 there is (1) no metamorphosis; (2) the ej^es are 

 mostly groups of ocelli ; (3) there are extra-abdomi- 

 nal appendages in some, which answer the purpose 

 of feet ; (4) and a. few species among the Poduradse 

 are believed to breathe througli the skin, without 

 the assistance of tracherc at all. 



But I must pass away from generalities, and 

 attendjto my[primary object, — viz., to enable readers 

 to identify their captures, and to guess if any 

 thysanurous insect they may find is to be sus- 

 pected of being unknown to Science or to the 

 British fauna. 



\i. 



Fig:. 1S4. Japx, from the American Naturalist, April, IS,"!. 



For the figures of Japyx and Campodea, I have 

 borrowed two of Dr. Packard's illustrations to the 

 article in the American Kataralid I have above 

 alluded to. llecently, I had a few specimens of 

 the latter, and I am under the impression that I 

 have, at a period when I could hardly distinguish a 

 beetle from an earwig, seen Japyx frequently. 



If my memory serves me right, I used to see it 

 in damp mould suddenly turned up with a spade or 

 a trowel, and I used to think then that the colonies 

 I disturbed were larval earwigs, a mistake which 

 a glance at the illustration will show is easily made. 

 The specimens of Campodea, four in number, which 

 I had given me lately, were of creamy-white colour, 

 apparently eyeless, and extremely fragile; never- 

 theless they were amazingly active, aud sensitive 

 to the influence of light. They would dash about 

 tlie cell containing them whenever I brought it 



