ORDER NEUROPTERA. 



49 



There are two principal groups of these insects — namely, the 

 Tubeflifera and the Terebrantia. They are generally known to 

 gardeners by the name of "Thrips." Some of them occasionally 

 prove injurious to cultivated plants. This is especially the case 

 with the Corn Thrips {Thrips cerealium)^ which generally attacks 

 the ears of corn, and, when numerous, is very mischievous. 



Tribe VIL — Mallophaga or Bird Lice. 



These insects, which are known as '' Bird Lice," were formerly 

 placed among the true lice, but they differ in the possession of 

 biting mouths, and in the diet to which such a structure adapts 

 them. 



A great number of these curious little insects have been 



Fig. 6i. — Lipeurus Diomedeae (Mag. 



recorded, and they inhabit all parts of the world. They live 

 among the feathers of birds and the hairs of mammalia. 



Almost every animal and bird is subject to these parasites. 



The common fowl, duck, goose, game birds of all kinds, and 

 pigeons, are very commonly infested by them, as are also the dog, 

 the cat, the sheep, and the guinea-pig. 



The two principal families of the Afallophaga are the Philo- 

 pttridce and the LiotJieida:, 



Tribe VIII. — Thvsaxura or Bristle Tails. 



The forms composed in this tribe of insects are reckoned at 

 present to be the nearest resemblance to the theoretical progenitors 



