94 NEUROPTERA. 



everything except iron or tin, whilst in time even houses succumb 

 to their ravages. They form, however, an article of food in many 

 places amongst the natives, by whom they are much esteemed on 

 account of their slightly acid flavour.^ The enormous structures 

 they erect are frequently carried up the trunk of a high tree, or 

 may sometimes be seen standing alone at a height of eighteen feet. 

 . . . The Dutch Boers and others make use of these ant-hills for 

 cooking purposes, hollowing out the lower portion of the heap, 

 and filling the hollow thus formed with wood, which is lighted, 

 and, when consumed, renders the receptacle an admirable oven, 

 retaining its heat for a great length of time." He gives two illus- 

 trations of these ant-hills, one of which represents just such an 

 oven as he has described. 



PsociD^. 



Head very large ; antennae long and slender, setaceous, composed 

 of about thirteen joints ; tarsi with only two or three joints ; hind 

 wings smaller than the fore wings, sometimes wanting ; and a few 

 species are wholly apterous; metamorphoses incomplete; pupa active. 



The Fsocidce are very small insects, which feed on dry vegetable 

 and animal substances; and Dr. Hagen states that he has sometimes 

 found neglected heaps of chaff to consist almost entirely of Psoci. The 

 species are met with on the trunks of trees, under bark, in caves, 

 on old lichen-covered walls, and in similar localities. The species 

 figured (P. Bipunctatiis, Linn.) is a greyish-yellow insect, which 

 measures about a quarter of an inch across the wings ; it is found 

 on the trunks of apple-trees in summer, . according to Westwood. 

 Atropos Pulsatoria, Linn., is a wingless whitish insect, measuring 

 about the twentieth of an inch in length, which frequents houses, 

 being found among old books and papers, and among collections 

 of natural history, to which it is very injurious. 



Embiid^. 



Head large ; antennae slender, sometimes with only eleven 

 joints, and sometimes with as many as thirty ; tarsi three-jointed ; 

 fore and hind wings of equal size ; metamorphoses incomplete. 



The JEmhiidce are insects resembling small Termites, and the 

 species are not numerous, though the family appears to have repre- 

 sentatives in most parts of the world, including South Europe. 

 Embia Savignyi, Westw., a dull reddish insect found in Egypt, is the 



^ Another point of resemblance to ants. 



