106 SMYNTHURUS. 



on its inner margin. At the base of the spring are 

 two scimitar shaped organs (PL LXIII, fig. 12), which 

 appear to be hairs specially modified, and of nnusual 

 size. They are about '008 of an inch in length, and 

 .001 in breadth. The apical half of the inner margin 

 and a small part of the outer edge are roughened 

 by irregular teeth ; which, however, are so unsym- 

 metrical as rather to suggest the idea of the border 

 being fretted by use. The two scimitars often differed 

 considerably in the extent to which they were thus 

 affected. 



I have been much puzzled about the synonymy of 

 this and the two following species, and in allotting the 

 names used by the early writers have been at length com- 

 pelled to act on two considerations — viz , firstly, that 

 the CoLLEMBOLA in Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, 

 and France, are, for the most part, the same as 

 those of England ; and secondly, that the earlier 

 writers probably had before them those species which 

 were most conspicuous, either from size or abundance. 



Thus of the old genus Smyntlmrus we have in this 

 country four large and common species; viz., S.fiiscus, 

 8. viridis, Papirius fiiscus, and P. ornatifs. Now 

 about the first there can fortunately be no doubt ; 

 Smyntliurus viridis is undeniably the P. viridis of 

 earlier writers. 



S. fuscus is evidently the species examined by De 

 Geer, and corresponds sufficiently with the species 

 described under the names placed at the head of this 

 section. Moreover, Mr. Tullberg has been so kind as 

 to send me some specimens of this species from 

 Sweden, proving that it is an inhabitant of that 

 country. The specimens, indeed, which I first met 

 with and described under the name of 8. Buskii differ 

 in several points, but the examination of a large 

 number of specimens has convinced me that our 

 English species, in some cases, corresponds pretty well 

 with the short descriptions of Linneus, Geoffroy, and 



