THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 187 



sender. It is really not a beetle at all, but one of those 

 apparently insignificant creatures which form the subject of 

 Sir John Lubbock's admirable monograph on the 'Collembola 

 and Thysanoura.' In this work it is represented on plate 2 

 under ihe name of Smynlhurus fuscus, and appears from the 

 synonymy, in which of course I have perfect reliance, to be 

 the " Podura globosa-fusca" of Linnaeus. It is not more than 

 a tenth of an inch in length : it has a fat subglobose, body, no 

 neck, a transverse head, and many-jointed antennae ; the basal 

 joint is short, not projecting beyond the head; the second 

 and third are longer, and are followed by a series of fifteen 

 or sixteen very short joints, so short as to appear like mere 

 marks on the exterior, and not to be real joints at all; the 

 legs are short, shorter than the antennae ; indeed they appear 

 ridiculously short in proportion to the obese body. Although 

 these funny little creatures are accused by my correspondent 

 of injuring our crops of mangold, yet I am far from being 

 convinced that this is really the case ; for it seems difficult to 

 state in what the food of the Smynthuri really consists. 

 They certainly swarm on the young plants of mangold, and 

 •on, as well as under, such small stones as may happen to be 

 in the immediate neighbourhood; but their object in thus 

 congregating is by no means obvious. Sir John Lubbock 

 observes that " the majority of the Collembola live on decay- 

 ing vegetable matter, and they are to be found in great 

 numbers in almost all damp places, skipping occasionally 

 like fleas when disturbed." The object of the skipping 

 propensity, possessed by some of the species, seems to be 

 very doubtful ; and it has been well observed by their eminent 

 historian, that " the possession of a powerful saltatory appa- 

 ratus appears to be a fantastic provision for a species that 

 lives in the chinks and crannies of bark, in the interstices of 

 fungi, or buried among decaying leaves." Concerning the 

 habits of these Smynthuri very little is known. But i^ss 

 life-studies of them have been sketched; but here is one, 

 touched tenderly and with a master's hand: — "It is very 

 amusing to see these little creatures coquetting together. 

 The male, which is much smaller than the female, runs round 

 her, and they butt one another, standing face to face, and 

 moving backwards and forwards like two playful lambs. 

 Then the female pretends to run away, and the male runs 



