INSEGTA APTERA. 



By George H. Carpenter, B.So. (Lond.), M.E.I.A., 



Professor of Zoology in the Eoyal College of Science, Dublin. 



(1 Plate.) 



The explorations of the National Antarctic Expedition have established the presence 

 of a wingless insect of exceptional interest, far south in the Continent of Victoria 

 Land. From Granite Harbour, 77° S. lat. and 162° E. long., on the south- trending 

 continental coast-line, almost opposite Eoss Island, on which stand Mounts Erebus 

 and Terror, and about 100 miles N.W. of the Winter Quarters of the ' Discovery,' a 

 jar-full of moss believed to contain CoUembola was secured. Examination of this 

 material has resulted in the detection of half-a-dozen very imperfect specimens of a small 

 dark-blue springtail. Unfortunately, these insects are in a poor state of preservation ; 

 either the spirit in which the moss was placed was too strong, or the insects had died 

 and shrivelled before the moss was collected. The result, however, is that no really 

 good example of the species can be obtained, and the following descriptions with the 

 accompanying figures have been made from various fragments. Under these 

 circumstances the descriptions are necessarily imperfect. It is hoped that the account 

 will not require correction by the discovery of further and more satisfactory specimens 

 by some future expedition, but it will assuredly need supplementing. The remoteness 

 of the locality, and the difficulty with which the insects must have been obtained, 

 render it a duty to make the best possible use even of such unpromising material. 



At first I spent many hours pulling the leaves of the moss plants asunder with 

 the help of a dissecting microscope, and this labour was rewarded by the discovery of 

 one or two shrivelled specimens, almost useless for study. Afterwards it was found 

 that the bases of the shoots afforded a better hunting-ground, and several more days' 

 work resulted in the unearthing of a few specimens' in a less shrivelled state. From 

 these, when cleared in potash and mounted in glycerine jelly, it was possible to make 

 out various details of structure, and the systematic position of the insect has been 

 gradually traced. All the specimens seen are referable to the same species. 

 Unfortunately, the general shape of the body can only be surmised, and the 

 segmentation of thorax and abdomen cannot be clearly distinguished in any specimen. 

 On the other hand, the delicate sense-organs on the feelers and head, and some details 

 of the jaws, can be plainly seen in one or two examples. A large quantity of the 

 moss still remains unexamined, so that further light may yet be thrown on the species 



