546 The American Naturalist. [June, 
bom found near the base of the femur in all three pairs of legs, in all 
of ten species of Phlwothrips studied, a peculiar area covered by a 
thin, transparent layer of chitin. Generally the areas are curved, but 
sometimes they are straight. In a specimen of Phlwothrips tibialis 
there was found on the left middle femur a straight area, and on the 
opposite femur a curved one. Through the thin chitin one may dis- 
tinguish several dark bodies measuring from three and one half to four 
microns in diameter, which recall the round structures in the audi- 
tory organs of Locusta as described by Hensen. The organ is also 
found in Thrips salicaria. 
‘“ Delarvation’’ as a translation of the French ‘“ Echenil- 
lage.’’—When one considers the thousands of words to be found in 
that enormous list of English words, the Century Dictionary, and also 
the hosts of technical words constantly being proposed, one should hesi- 
tate before burdening the language further. But now and then one 
feels that it will be a conservation of energy to reduce a sentence or & 
phrase to asingle word. How often is this the case in translating 
foreign words! The German “ Anlage” is an example. Some authors 
have endeavored to introduce it bodily into English, and others to 
translate it by the old word “fundament,” a term that to many 4 
speaker of English recalls to mind something ludicrous. The French 
“échenillage ” is another example. 
The word is not uncommon in French literature relating to economic 
entomology, as the author learned a couple of years ago when collecting 
and translating literature relative to the gypsy moth. It means to 
remove larvæ from trees, bushes, fields or from wherever they may be, 
whether it be by hand picking, by treatment with an insecticide or any 
other method. There is but one word in English that can be used to 
express this, and that is the verb “to worm.” But there are difficulties 
involved in its use that are very apparent. One can speak of worming 
one’s cabbages or of sending some one to worm them, without involving 
any misunderstanding. But when one desires to speak of the process 
of worming cabbages, i. e., to use the verbal noun, one encounters 
trouble. First the verbal noun does not seem altogether euphoneous; 
second, one is, or rather the reader may be, puzzled to know which of 
the eleven meanings of the verb “to worm” given by the Century Dic- 
tonary i is meant. He may ask, does it mean the action (1) of moving oF 
squirming like a worm, or (2) of acting slowly and secretly, or (3) of 
affecting something slowly, or (4) of removing by underhand means, OF 
