1 91 1- CARrENTKR. — Nciv Irish Apterygota. 83 



numerous in summer but disappears almost entirely in the 

 winter." 



Probably we shall be right in regarding T . domestica 

 as an introduced species in Ireland as in (ireat Britain. 

 But there is the possibility that a Mediterranean insect 

 like this may be an indigenous species in our island, although 

 it is now almost or altogether confined to the interior of 

 buildings. In Great Britain T. domestica has usually been 

 found in bake-houses, where its fondness for stoves, ovens, 

 hot-water pipes, and other warm objects has earned for it 

 the name of the " fire-brat." 



COLLEMBOLA. 



ENTOMOBRYIDAE. 



Proisotoma ultonica, sp. nov. 



Body plump and thickset, with short appendages. Feeler 

 hardly longer than head (fig. i). Post-antennal organ 

 elongate oval, as long as twice the diameter of an anterior 

 ocellus ; eight ocelli on each side, the outer median two 

 very small (fig. 2). Foot with simple elongate claw ; 

 empodial appendix bristle-like, half as long as claw, with 

 small, but distinct lamina (fig. 3). Catch exceptionally 

 large (fig. 4) with a stout, curving bristle on its base and 

 four teeth on each limb. Fourth abdominal segment nearly 

 1^ times as long as third (fig. i). Spring (figs, i, 5, 6) with 

 manubrium as long as dens and mucro together ; dens 

 with numerous small tubercles ; mucro more than half as 

 long as dens, with two upturned teeth — one apical and one 

 sub-apical — and an evenly curved lamina (fig. 6). 



Length, I'l mm. Colour, light grey, the tergites, head, 

 and feelers with dark-blue mottlings ; legs with fainter 

 mottling. 



Habitat — Ballyclare, Co. Antrim ; in garden soil. 



A very large number of specimens of this curious little 

 springtail were sent by Mr. Strachan in April, 1910. They 

 were present in large numbers in garden soil around the 

 roots of cauliflowers. I cannot satisfy myself that they 

 were actually eating the roots, though serious damage by 

 various species of Collembola to vegetable tissues of different 

 kinds has become more and more apparent during recent 



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