COLLECTING AND PRESERVING INSECTS BANKS. 



Fig. 6.— One of the 

 bird-lice, goniodes 

 falcicornis. 



guard the colony. The males appear at certain times, and they and 

 the queen are winged. The neuters and soldiers are always wing- 

 less. Sometimes they do damage to woodwork and to books. A few 

 of the tropical lands make enormous nests, sometimes higher than 

 a man; others make nests in trees. The Embiids 

 are similar insects, living in less numerous colo- 

 nies and spinning a web wherever they go. 

 These forms are best collected in alcohol, though 

 some of the winged termites may be mounted on 

 points. 



Mallojphaga. — -These are small, flat, wingless in- 

 sects (fig. 6) with short legs and a large head, with 

 short antennae. Since most of these occur on birds, 

 they are commonly called " bird-lice. ' ' They have 

 biting mouth-parts, feed upon feathers, hair, and 

 dermal scales, and do not suck blood from the 

 hosts. Several genera live upon mammals. The } T oung are very 

 similar to the adults. Many species are restricted to one host, but 

 in some cases one species occurs on a number of related birds, and 

 many birds harbor two or three different species. They may be 

 preserved in alcohol, but are best studied when mounted upon 

 slides. 



Corrodentia. — The common members of this suborder (family 

 Psocida?) that occur around houses are known as "book-lice," but 



many others occur on the bark and leaves 

 of trees and are called "tree-lice." They 

 are all small insects, most of them with 

 four wings, but the species occurring around 

 houses are usually wingless. They are soft- 

 bodied, with long antennae and slender legs 

 (fig. 7) and feed on minute plant life, on 

 paste, hulls of seeds, etc. Many species 

 are gregarious, at least during their imma- 

 ture stages, and some spin a web over their 

 They fly at twilight. They should be mounted upon micro- 



flg. 7.— a tree-louse, psocus 

 vexosus. (From Comstock.) 



eo-o's. 



pins, but when possible some should be preserved in alcohol. 



ARCHIPTERA. 



To this order belong the stoneflies, mayflies, and dragonflies, 

 three groups that live for the greater part of the time as larvae and 

 nymphs in the water. Although there is no real metamorphosis, 

 the younger stages differ from the adult in many ways besides the 

 absence of wings. Together with the Platyptera, Neuroptera, 



