APTERA 197 



The taxonomy of the Collembola has not yet been adequately 

 treated, and it is possible that more grounds will be found 

 for separating them as a distinct Order from the Thysanura, a 

 course that was advocated by Lubbock, than exist for dividing 

 these latter from the Orthoptera proper. There are apparently no 

 grounds for considering the Aptera to be degenerate Insects, and we 

 may adopt the view of Grassi, that they are primitive, or rather 

 little evolved forms. It must be admitted that there are not at 

 present any sufficient reasons for considering these Insects to be 

 " ancient " or " ancestral." The vague general resemblance of Cam- 

 podea to many young Insects of very different kinds is clearly the 

 correlative of its simple form, and is no more proof of actual 

 ancestry to them than their resemblances inter se are proofs of 

 ancestry to one another. But even if deprived of its claim to 

 antiquity and to ancestral honours, it must be admitted that 

 Campodea is an interesting creature. In its structure one of the 

 most fragile of organisms, with a very feeble respiratory system, 

 inadequate organs of sense, only one pair of ovarian tubes, very 

 imperfect mouth-organs, and a simple alimentary canal, it 

 nevertheless flourishes while highly -endowed Insects become 

 extinct. In the suburban gardens of London, on the shores of 

 the Mediterranean, on the summits of the higher Pyrenees, in 

 North America even it is said in the caves of Kentucky, and 

 in India, Campodea is at home, and will probably always be 

 with us. 



