THE THRIPS ULICIS. 181 



The larvae of these insects closely resemble their 

 parents in form^ differing principally in the absence 

 of wings and ocelli. Like the perfect insects^ they 

 are exceedingly active^ and are to be met with in 

 company with the latter. On passing into the pnpa 

 statCj however, they become far more sluggish in 

 their movements, although they still crawl about, 

 like the other insects with an incomplete metamor- 

 phosis. Their size is always small, most of the spe- 

 cies being less than a twelfth of an inch in length ; and 

 the largest of all, the Idolothrips specti^um, a native of 

 Australia, which may be regarded as the giant of the 

 race, only measures about a third of an inch. 



To return to the little inhabitant of the furze-bloom 

 from which we set out, and which from its preference 

 for that particular plant has received the name of 

 Thrips Ulicis, we shall find, on examining more par- 

 ticularly into its structure, that its anterior wings are 

 of a firmer consistence than the posterior pair, and 

 furnished with two longitudinal nervures, and that 

 they lie on the back of the abdomen in such a man- 

 ner that their inner margins meet down the centre in 

 a straight suture, something like the elytra of a 

 beetle. On examining the mouth we find that the 

 bristle-like mandibles scarcely project beyond the 

 other parts, and that the maxillary palpi consist of 

 three joints. These characters are possessed by the 

 little Thrips of the furze in common with a consider- 

 able majority of the species of the order, the females 

 of which are further distinguished by the possession 

 of a small acute ovipositor, which is composed of four 

 valves, often delicately serrated, and which, when 

 not in use, is concealed in a slit of the last two seg- 

 ments of the abdomen. They form a tribe, which is 



