CHAPTER XV 

 THE EMBHDINA 



This is a small group of insects, only about 60 species having been 

 described. They live in warm climates either under stones or on plants 

 in crevices of the bark or elsewhere, spinning silken tunnels in which to 

 live. The largest species known is less than an inch long (Fig. 44). 



The wings are generally (always?) present in the males and absent 

 in the females. The tunnels appear to be formed at least partly for 

 protection, but perhaps also to aid in preserving moisture, for when dry 



Fig. 44. — Emhia major Inmis, aVjout 13^2 times natural size. 



Linn. Soc. Loud. 1913.) 



{Reduced from Imms. Trans. 



weather comes on they are carried deeper into the soil in the ground- 

 inhabiting forms. The silk appears to be produced by glands located 

 in the tarsi of the fore legs — something unparalleled elsewhere among 

 insects. The mouth parts are of the chewing type. 



The food of these insects is probably vegetable matter, but the injury 

 they do to plants, as thus far reported, is not great. Even where they 

 are most abundant they are seldom seen except by those looking for 

 them. A few fossil specimens belonging to this group have been found 

 preserved in amber. The Embiids appear to be more closely related to 

 the Plecoptera than to any of the other orders of insects. 



74 



