Thrips Uiicis (magnified). 



CHAPTER IX. 

 PHYSOPODA. 



IN examining attentively the flowers of the common 

 Furze, from their first appearance in early spring 

 until the last of these golden ornaments is fading 

 from our heaths and commons, we are sure to see 

 some little black lines, measuring about a twelfth of 

 an inch in length, scattered in greater or less pro- 

 fusion upon the bright yellow petals. These, how- 

 ever, constitute no part of the flower, as we soon 

 perceive by their active movements ; and on picking 

 one or two of the blossoms we find that the little 

 moving lines are small black insects, of a delicate 

 and slender form, which run very quickly, and not 

 unfrequently escape from our examination by a sudden 

 spring. These minute insects may serve us as exam- 



