affecting the Corn- Crops. 
499 
brislle (fi^. 6, A) : proboscis pendent or inflected under the breast, 
horny, twice as long as the head, and much longer in some species, 
resembling the beak of a bird (fig. 6); the labrum, or upper lip 
(fig. i), is hollow, dilated at the base, cleft at the apex, enclosing a 
horny, slender, acute tongue and two very long and slender 
maxilhx?, with minute palpi, or feelers, at the base (fig. /) ; the 
under lip is very long, bilobed, and bristly at the extremity (fig. h) : 
the thorax is ash-coloured and oval, with three blacki^^h stripes 
down the back and a few black bristles; thescutellum is somewhat 
crescent-shaped, the margin ochreous ; abdomen somewhat linear, 
and seven-jointed, the apical joint nearly globose, but cleft : wings 
ample, incumbent, and parallel in repose ; pale smoky-ochreous, 
with the third subcostal nerviu-e forked at the extremity, and a 
conical cell on the disc : halteres pale ochreous and clubbed : legs 
long and stoutish, especially the hinder pair ; thighs and tibifc 
simple ; tarsi tapering, brown, and five-jointed, basal joint the 
longest; claws and pulvilH minute, the latter bilobed: length 3 
lines, expanse 7 lines and upv.'ards. The female (fig. 5) is larger 
than the male and of an ash-colour: head globose (fig. 6) ; eyes 
large, but not contiguous; the rostrum longer and thicker than in 
the male : abdomen stoutish, of the same colour as the thorax, but 
the incisures are more slate-coloured, the apex conical and ter- 
minated by two compressed black slender lobes ; ovipositor long, 
slender, and contractile: the wings arc perfectly transparent : the 
legs are ochraceous ; all the thiglis, except the intermediate, are 
densely ciliated beneath with black hairs. 
The sexes of this fly are so diflferent in the colour of the wings 
and body that no one would take them for the same species, if 
they were not often observed in pairs. 
The Thrips. 
Every one must be acquainted with a little black slender insect 
which alights on the face in hot weather, causing an intolerable 
irritation of the skin by running and leaping about with its bladder- 
tipped feet, throwing up its head and twisting about its tail to 
expand or close its beautifully fringed wings. I know of no other 
name for it than Thrips ; and a closely allied species, if not the 
same, is accused of doing considerable mischief to the corn-crops. 
The Thrips are all very minute, and many of them very n)is- 
chievous ; one species often swarms upon peaches and other wall- 
fruit, as well as on melons, &c., in frames;* another causes great 
injury to the olives in Italy ;t and a third species is very destruc- 
tive in hot-houses; but that which the farmer has to contend with 
* Gard. Chron., vol. i. p. 228. 
■i- Passerini's Notizie sopra una Specie d' Insetlo del Gen. Tlirips. 
