262 



[September, 



Campodea staphylinus Westwood. Evidently widely distributed. 



Campodea luhbocki Silvestri. Oxford, Newcastle, Gibside, and Fencehouses. 



Campodea lanJcesteri Silvestri. London, Oxford, and Gibside. 



Campodea giardi Silvestri. Typical examples from Gibside. I have speci- 

 mens from Gibside and Lambton probably referable to a form of this species ; 

 the last two joints of the cercus are very long, probably representing the last 

 four joints, reduced in number (and thereby lengthened) by fusion. 



Campodea fragilis Meinert. Hartley (Northumberland) and Whitburn 

 (Durham), both seaside localities. 



Plusiocampa sp. I took a species of Plusiocampa in a Dene near Fencehouses, 

 in 1913 ; I do not know whether I still possess the specimens, but anticipate no 

 difficulty in re-discovering it. 



The student of Sijmphyla will find mucli in common should he 

 turn his attention to these insects ; in fact, taxonomically, both groups 

 may be regarded as studies of ehaetotaxy in excelsis. Campodea may 

 be easily recognised by the pair of long jointed " bristles " or cerci at 

 the end of the abdomen, which are usually longer than the antennae 

 and sometimes longer than the body. 



The species of this group may be found 

 under stones embedded in more or less loose earth, 

 and are much more often seen than members of 

 the Symphyla, usually affecting looser and drier 

 material, such as dead leaves, decaying wood, 

 peaty and loamy soils, ants' nests, etc. They are 

 widely spread also, and exist from our shores to 

 the heights of our mountains. 



Dr. Shai-p, in the Cambridge Natural History, 

 Vol. V, p. 183, says : — " The creature itself is but 

 little known even to entomologists, although it is 

 one of the commonest of insects over a large part 

 of Europe. It is numerous in the gardens and 

 fields about London and Cambridge, and abounds 

 in damp decaying wood in the New Forest ; if 

 there be only one species, it must possess an extra- 

 ordinary capacity for adapting itself to extremes of climate, as we have 

 found it at mid- summer near the shores of the Mediterranean in 

 company with the sub-tropical white ants, and within a day or two 



Campodea luhbocki 

 Silvestri. X S. 



