12 



GUIDE TO INSECTS. 



Table- 

 case 31. 



Order APTEEA. 



In Table-case 31 are exhibited examples of the Aptera, which 

 includes the Springtails and Fish Insects. Wingless insects which 

 undergo no metamorphoses, the young resembling the adult except 



Fig. 8. 



Springtail (Pcvpirius), greatly enlarged (after Lubbock). 



in size. They are usually divided into two sub-orders, Collembola 

 and Thysanura. 



The Collembola, or Springtails, are small soft-bodied insects, very 

 common in decaying vegetable matter, on herbage by the roadside, 

 on the banks of ponds, and on the surface of stagnant water. One 

 small white species (Isotoma fimetaria) can live equally well on land 

 and on the top of water, and as it can live under water for many 

 weeks it has at times caused some trouble by getting into cisterns. 



