354 MR - R - s - bagnall's report of 



Thrips ( Thysanoptera). 



It was rather early for the heath and the heather, which was 

 only just breaking into blossom, but the somewhat isolated 

 clumps were crowded with thrips and their larvae, most 

 conspicuous amongst them being the white-barred Aeolothrips 

 fasciatus L., though the two smaller species, Physothrips erica 

 Hal. and Oxy thrips parviceps Uzel, were more numerously 

 represented. But best of all was the capture of the minute 

 and wingless *Ambly thrips ericce Bagnall, a genus and species 

 described only recently from Yorkshire and Scotland. By 

 repeated search this insect was found to be of wide distribution 

 but scarce, less than thirty specimens being ultimately secured. 

 A. ericce is only a little more than half a millimetre in length, 

 and is rather difficult to distinguish in the field from the larvae 

 of the larger forms. It has, however, an air of distinction, 

 and, unlike the sluggish larvae, moves about with some 

 alertness and without the hesitation so evident in the former. 

 In colour Amblythrips is tinged with reddish-brown, whilst the 

 larvae of both Physothrips and Oxythrips are clear yellow or 

 orange-yellow, and the antennae of our little friend, under a 

 lens, have the definition usually attributed to a mature thrips. 

 A. ericce appears to prefer the large bell heather, Erica 

 tetralix, from which plant I have more recently taken it on the 

 moors near Riding Mill, and in numbers from the New Forest 

 and the Isle of Wight. 



Hard work examining the junipers which grow so luxuriantly 

 in the Holystone Burn failed to produce the Thrips juniperina 

 L. (Bagn.), but special attention to the grasses and sedges of 

 the Loughs brought to light examples of three species new to 

 the British fauna, namely the very distinct ** Chirothrips hamatus 

 Trybom (dudcz Uzel), female ; what is apparently the male of 

 **Bagnallia klctpa leki (Uzel), from sedge-like grasses on Har- 

 bottle Lough and females of ** Fi-aiikliniella tenuicornis (U zel) 

 from a soft pasture grass on the banks of Selby's Lough. 

 Several examples of another recently recognized species, 

 Physothrips pallipennis Uzel, females, occurred with the Chiro- 



