J.\-J'A\WCCJ'JO.\ i'X. 



Sub-Order I.- * .\.* 



^/ ;S.) 



To this sub-order belon in minute insects which have rc- 



:nmi name Spring-tails, T; often of micro- 



'1 he majority live on decaying matter ; and are \ 

 -non under stones and decayed leaves and wood, in the chinks 

 ami of bark, among moss, and on herbage in damp pla 



they occur abundantly in winter on the surface of snow . 

 where they app minute black specks, which spring away on 



either side from our feet as we walk. And some species collect in 

 .: numbers on the surface of standing water. 



The body consists of the head, three thoracic and six abdominal 

 segments. The abdominal segments are not well marked in some 

 forms. No compound eyes exist in this sub-order. There is, how 

 ever, usually a group of simple eyes on each side of the head. The 

 antenna.- consist of but few, four to eight, segments. The mouth- 

 parts are formed for biting, except in Anoura, where the mandibles 

 and maxilla: are wanting. 



The name Collembola refers to a curious organ situated on the 



^^^^ ventral aspect of the first abdominal scg- 



f ment, the ventral tube or sucker. "In 



N ff ^^^^^^^^^s 



/aF\jfjz B^ Podura, Lipura, and the allied genera, this 



organ is a simple tubercle; divided into 



H two halves by a central slit ; in other 



/w/^^^^^^H^ r genera, as, for instance, in OrcJicsclIa and 



Tomoccrus, the tubercle is enlarged, and 



6 *- Pa & & CU ' (AftCf becomes a tube divided at the Vive end 

 into two lobes. In the Smynthurid.c ami 



iriidse the organ receives a still further and remarkable devel- 

 opment ; from the end of the tube the animal can project two 

 long, delicate tubes provided at their extremity with two glan. 



bbock.) By means of this sucker and the fluid excreted by its 

 gla: enabled to cling to the lower surfaci 



smooth obje 



The popular name Spring-tails wa ted for these in 



by a peculiar leaping apparatus which most of them ; It 



consists of a long appendage of either the fourth or fifth abdominal 

 tends under the abdomen towards tin: li 



* CollCmbola. (don (x-cSAox), a limb; cmbole (eftfioXi?), a throwing. 



