APTERA 197 



The taxonomy of the Collembola has not yet been adequately 



treated, and it is possible that more grounds will be found 



for separating them as a distinct Order from the Thysanura, — a 



course that was advocated by Lubbock, — than exist for dividing 



these latter from the Orthoptera proper. There are apparently no 



grounds for considering the Aptera to be degenerate Insects, and we 



may adopt the view of Grassi, that they are primitive, or rather 



little evolved forms. It must be admitted that there are not at 



present any sufficient reasons for considering these Insects to be 



" ancient " or " ancestral." The vague general resemblance of Gam- 



podea to many young Insects of very different kinds is clearly the 



correlative of its simple form, and is no more proof of actual 



ancestry to them than their resemblances inter se are proofs of 



ancestry to one another. But even if deprived of its claim to 



antiquity and to ancestral honours, it must be admitted that 



Campodea is an interesting Creature. In its structure one of the 



most fragile of organisms, with a very feeble respiratory system, 



inadequate organs of sense, only one pair of ovarian tubes, very 



imperfect mouth-organs, and a simple alimentary canal, it 



nevertheless flourishes while highly -endowed Insects become 



extinct. In the suburban gardens of London, on the shores of 



the Mediterranean, on the summits of the higher Pyrenees, in 



North America even it is said in the caves of Kentucky, and 



in India, Campodea is at home, and will probably always be 



with us. 



