486 



THYSANOPTERA. 



being entirely justified in trying to escape from such direful foes as the ants of its own 

 country. During the late war in India, a picket of soldiers contrived to disturb a large 

 wasps' nest, and were forced to scatter in all directions in order to avoid the attacks of 

 their small but formidable antagonists, for whose assaults they, being Highlanders, 

 were very ill prepared. Yet no one would impugn the courage of the soldiers (the 

 officer in command, an old pupil of my own, having won the Victoria Cross) ; and the 

 ants are even more terrible foes to the Mantis than the wasps to human beings, their 

 dimensions being quite disproportionate, and their usual prey being insects whom they 

 overpower by numbers and united action, so that the size and courage of the Mantis are 

 important when opposed to such foes. 



J^ii IrSt, 

 **fatJ-g 



LEAF IN5ECT.-Pb^///um s<yift. (Female). 



THYSANOPTERA. 



THE next order, according to Mr. Westwood's arrangement, is that called the Thysa- 

 noptera, or Fringe-winged Insects, on account of the manner in which the wings are 

 edged with long and delicate cilia. They are all little insects, seldom exceeding the 

 tenth or twelfth of an inch in length, but, although small, are capable of doing consid- 

 erable damage. They are mostly to be found on plants and flowers, especially those 

 blossoms where the petals are wide and deep and afford a good shelter. The convolv- 

 ulus is always a great favorite with them. Greenhouses are sadly liable to their in- 

 roads, and owing to their numbers they are very injurious to melons, cucumbers, and 

 similar plants, covering their leaves with a profusion of decayed patches, that look as 

 if some powerful acid had been sprinkled over them. Only one family of these insects 

 is acknowledged by entomologists. 



