27 



ORDER THYSANOPTERA. 



Three distinct species of Thripidie were taken on cotton. Two spe- 

 cies, the wheat Thrips {Thrips trltici Fitch) and the apple Thrips 

 {Phlceothrips mali Fitch) were talvcn in the blossoms, puncturing tlie 

 stamens and corolla, but no serious injury seemed to follow their attack. 



The other species is apparently predaceous and was observed feed- 

 ing on the cotton Aleyrodes {A. gossi/pii). It is apparently undescribed, 

 and may be characterized as follows : 

 Thrips trifasciatus u. sp. 



/<em.fl/<J.— Length 0.8 ra'". Light brown; eyes strongly faceted, purplish-brown in 

 certain lights ; three basal segments of abdomen abore, dark brown ; segments 4, 5, 

 and 6 white; apical segments light brown, the sutures dusky; legs, except hind 

 femora towards tips, white; wings, linear, strongly fringed, without nerves, the 

 ground color brown or fuscous, with three transverse white bands, i. e., the front 

 wings have a white band at base, another at about two-thirds their length, and with 

 the apices white. 



Habitat.— l^eav Utica, Miss. 



ORDER NEUROPTERA. 



The larviie of the lacewing flies are predaceous, feeding upon aph- 

 ides, mites, minute caterpillars, and the eggs and larva? of other insects. 

 They are commonly called ai)his lions. 



In the family Hemerobiid.T; only a single species was discovered feed- 

 ing on the cotton aphis {Aphis gossypii Glover). A full-grown larva 

 was taken July 128, while it was feeding upon aphides. The following 

 description was made: 



Body long and slender; abdomen gradually tapering to a point at the apex, and 

 measuring 8 '"'" in length; head small, with long curved pointed mandibles, medium 

 sized eyes and two autenn;e extending to the middle thoracic segment; first tho- 

 racic segment much longer than wide and only about half the width of the second 

 and third, the latter segments being the widest of all, and each with a large whitish 

 spot at the sides; abdomen much longer than the head and thorax uniti^d, gradually 

 produced into a point posteriorly and composed of 9 segments. 



During the night it spun an extremely loosely woven cocoon, of the 

 finest silk, G ■"'" long by 3 ""'" in width, in which it transformed into a 

 pupa, the pupa being whitish in color, scarcely 4 """ long, and plainly 

 discernible through the meshes of the cocoon. On August 4 the imago 

 appeared, being just six days in the pupa state. 



It is apparently the insect described by Walker from Georgia (Brit. 

 Mus. Cat. Neuropt., p. 286) under the name Remerohius humuli Linn. ; 

 but as Hagen believes it to be distinct, and two species having the 

 same specific name can not be retained, the specific name for this spe- 

 cies may be changed to gossypii and it may be known in future as the 

 cotton lacewing fly {Remerobius gossypii). 



No less than five distinct species of the beneficial Chrysopid?e were 

 taken on the cotton, the larvte of which feed on the cotton aphis, the 

 eggs of various insects, and minute caterpillars. The larva of one spe- 

 cies was seen eagerly seizing and sucking dry a minute lepidopterous 



