THRIPID^. 549 



terminated in the male by a long attenuated joint, by a four- 

 valved borer in the female." 



The eggs of Phlaeothrips have been compared to those of 

 Culex, by Haliday, "being cylindric, rounded at one end, and 

 crowned with a knob at the other." Both the larva 

 (Fig. 554) and pupa are active, being found in the 

 same situations as the adult. The larvae are of softer 

 consistence, pale, or reddish, and the thoracic rings are 

 similar to each other, while in the pupa "the articula- 

 tions of the limbs are obscured by a film, and the wings 

 enclosed in short fixed sheaths. The antennae are Flg<554> 

 turned back on the head, and the insect, though it moves 

 about, is much more sluggish than in the other states." (Hali- 

 day in Westwood's "Introduction," etc.) 



The different species occur under the bark of trees, and are 

 very injurious to grain and flowers, eating holes in the leaves 

 or corollas, and sucking the sap from the flowers of wheat, in 

 the bottom of which they hide. 



In Phlceothrips and allies (Fig. 552, P. coriacea Halida}^?) 

 both sexes have the abdomen terminating in an acute point, 

 being either the ovipositor of the female, or the slender termi- 

 nal tube-like joint of the male. The wings are almost with- 

 out veins, with long ciliae, and at rest folded one upon the other. 

 The antennae are eight-jointed. Three ocelli are present in the 

 winged species, but in the wingless forms they are absent. 



The Phlceothrips mail of Fitch appears "in a roundish cavity 

 near the tip end of the young fruit." Dr. Fitch describes 

 another species (P. caryae) which is found in singularly shaped 

 galls on the hickory, "which resemble a long, slender pod 

 thrust half-way through the leaf." This author doubts, how- 

 ever, whether these galls are made by these insects. He also 

 states that "the insect within, when disturbed, turns its tail 

 upward over its back in a menacing manner, the same as the 

 rove beetles (Staphylinidse) do, and when the point of a needle, 

 which had been pressed upon one of these insects, is touched 

 to the tip of the tongue, unless my imagination greatly de- 

 ceives me, it will frequently be found to impart a peculiar acid 

 biting sensation." 



A second group (Terebrantia Haliday) includes the genus 



