28 Proceedings of the Royal h-ish Academy. 



consist either of conidia of Helmiuthosporium' and other fimgi, or of frag- 

 ments of insect cuticle and bristles; probably the latter indicate that 

 Lepidocanipa behaves as a scavenger rather than as a beast of prey. 



Order COLLEMBOLA. 



The describe!' of Collembola, or " Spring-tails," from the Seychelles has 

 the advantage of a field almost unworked, as one species only of these insects, 

 Acanthurdla Braucri, Borner ('06), seems as yet to have been recorded from 

 the Archipelago. That insect is represented in the present collection, and 

 so is a species A.relsonia tlialassophila, Borner ('07), described lately from 

 Madagascar. The remaining sixteen species now recorded appear to be all 

 new to science. 



Among the Collembola there is a marked division into two groups, which 

 Borner ('01) is probably justified in regarding as sub-orders. They are thus 

 characterized : — 



A. Segmentation of the abdomen well marked, occasionally the fifth 



and si.xth or the fourth, fifth, and si.xth segments partialh- fused. 

 Body elongate iu form. Tracheal system wanting (except in the 

 Actaletinae), Arthropleona. 



B. Abdomen sub-globular with the segmentation obliterated. 



Tracheal system developed Symplujpleona. 



Of these two sub-orders, the latter, which marks a higher degree of 

 specialization than the former, appears to be unrepresented iu the fauna 

 of the Seychelles, all the eighteen species here recorded being members of tlie 

 Arthropleona. The Arthropleona may be most naturally divided into two 

 very ilistinct families, though Borner in his latest classification {'loh) regards 

 these as " sections " containing three families each, an unwarranted 

 systematic elaboration. 



A. Prothorax well developed, with definite tergum, bearing bristles. 



Cuticle usually granulated, Podimdac. 



B. Prothorax much reduced, its tergum undeveloped. Cuticle not 



granulated, ....... Enlomohryidae. 



Only a single Seychelles species belongs to the former of these two families; 

 the remaining seventeen are all Entomobryidae. 



' Fnr tlie determination of this genus I am indebted to my coUeague, Professor 

 T. Juhnson, D.Sc. 



