no The Ottawa Naturalist. [Nov. 



Britain, were the most noteworthy collectors, and I was able to 

 add a few species to their lists in after years. The relationship 

 of these clavs, in which are Ledas, Buccinums and other species 

 indicating deeper water than those noted in the Saanich form- 

 ation, has not, to my mind, been satisfactorily determined. 



THE SNOW-FLEA. 



By Charles Macnamara, Arnprior, Ontario. 



In this part of Canada the coming of winter practically 

 marks the seasonable close of visible insect life, and with the 

 first snow most collectors put up their nets, forceps and 

 bottles. But to this general rule there are exceptions, and occa- 

 sionally one finds on the snow a torpid fly or spider that the winter 

 winds have blown out of some crevice, or sometimes on a mild 

 day a woollv-bear caterpillar is seen hurrying along as if late 

 for an appointment. These, however, are merely accidental 

 apparitions, and the only insect that can be said to occur regu- 

 larly during the winter months is the springtail. 



These tiny insects belong to the order Thysanura, and 

 form the sub-order Collembola. They are the most widely 

 distributed hexapods in the world, having a range from the 

 Arctic to the Antarctic and are found high up on mountains 

 and down in the deepest caves. Exckiding parasites on pen- 

 guins and seals, which may be regarded as importations, the 

 only indigenous insect in the Antarctic continent is said to be 

 a springtail. Only in view of their absolutely wingless condition, 

 the wide distribution of these small and delicate insects points 

 to the great antiquity of the order, and they are thought to 

 represent a very early offshoot of the ancestral stock of Hex- 

 apoda. All the species are very small, ranging from one-half 

 a millimeter to five millimeters in length, but those of the latter 

 size are the giants of the race; most of them are from one to 

 two millimeters long. They frequent dark damp places, as 

 under moss and rotten wood, and owing to their minute size 

 are difficult to discover. 



