16 FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 



hair of rugs, etc., and the larva is worm-like and feeds on whatever 

 animal matter — as grease and blood — it can find. 



3 — EuPLEXOPTERA, (eu, Well ; "^.i^w, folded) or Earwigs, consist- 

 ing of the single family Forficulidce., which may be placed with the 

 Ortliojptera. They are rare insects with us, but very common in 

 Europe, where there prevails a superstition that they get into the ear 

 and cause all sorts of trouble. The front wings are small and leath- 

 ery ; the hind ones have the form of a quadrant and look like a fan 

 when opened; and the characteristic feature is a pair of forceps like 

 appendages at the end of the body, best developed in the males. They 

 are nocturnal in habit, hiding during the day in any available recesses. 

 The female lays her eggs in the ground, and, singularly enough, broods 

 over them and over her young — the latter crowding under her like 

 chicks under a hen. 



4 — Trichoptera, {T(nyoz, of hair; -—^a, wings) or Caddice-flies, 

 containing the single family PhryganekJce^ and placed with the 

 Weuroptera^ though bearing great affinities with the Lepidoptera. 

 Every good disciple of Walton and lover of the ^'gentle art" knows 

 the value of the Caddice-fly or Water-moth, as bait. These flies very 

 much resemble certain small moths, the scales on the wings of the 

 latter being replaced in ihe former with simple hairs. The larvae live 

 in the water and inhabit silken cases, which are usually cylindrical 

 and covered with various substances, according to the species, or the 

 material most conveniently obtained by the individual. 



5 — Thysanoptera ('9yffayo-, a fringe; -rspa, wings) or Thrips of 

 entomologists, containing the single family Thripidce^ which may be 

 placed with the Pseudo-neuroptera^ though bearing strong relations 

 to the TIemiptera. They are small insects, feeding on plants, or other 

 plant-feeding species of their own Class, and are characterized by 

 having narrow wings crossed on the back when at rest and beautifully 

 fringed. 



Prof. Westwood of Oxford, England, has lately proposed an addi- 

 tional Order {Achreioptera) to contain a single species {Platypsyllus 

 castorinus) parasitic on the Canadian beaver, but Mon. Ritsema, who 

 also described the same insect about the same time, hesitated to found 

 even a new Family for it ; while our own Coleopterist, Dr. J. L. 

 LeConte, gives good reasons for placing it with the Coleoptera. 



As already stated, if separated from the other Orders, these ab- 

 normal tribes should, at the most, be considered as Suborders; and 

 in reality they difftr no more from the Orders to which they are here 

 referred than, for instance, the Bark-lice ( Coccidce) do from the more 

 typical Ilomoptera from which no one thinks of separating them. 



