124 INSECTS. 



a manner which no sober minded Staphylinus would 

 think of. The object of this appears to be to assist four 

 slender, fringed and generally veinless wings to flourish 

 themselves in the air in an ostentatious manner, but with 

 apparently little result but that of display, as they seem 

 incapable of motion except with the assistance of the 

 tail ; and no tail, however active, could- be expected to 

 keep four wings at work in flight. 



It is not denied that the insect may fly, but it seems 

 to be doubtful. Observed by the naked eye it might 

 easily be taken for one of the minute beetles with short 

 wing-cases, and the active tail greatly increases the 

 resemblance, these beetles, like the Earwig, using their 

 long and slender abdomens to assist them in the folding 

 and arrangement of their wings. 



This little insect is the Thrips (PI. IV. fig. 6), 

 the gardener's pest, known in greenhouses as the Black- 

 fly, in contradistinction to the Aphis, or Green-fly. The 

 mischief which it effects is considerable both in flowers, 

 fruit, and grain. 



Like the Aphis, it sucks the juices of plants, and its 

 attacks are shown in the colourless dead spots to be seen 

 in the petals of flowers, &c. 



The place of the Thrips in classification is very difficult 

 to determine. Its transformations are like those of the 

 Orthoptera, the insect being active in all stages and 

 acquiring rudimental wings in the pupa state. The 

 wings differ however from these, and from all others, 

 being, as has been said, generally slender, fringed, and 

 veinless, though the forewings in some species have the 

 appearance of veins and approach Elytra in character. 

 The mouth is a true sucking mouth, somewhat resem- 

 bling that of the Bugs, Aphides, &c., yet retains enough 



