June, 1909.] Ohio Forms of the Genus Lepidocyrtus. 
5 2 9 
Description of Ohio Species: —No attempt has been made 
to give a complete bibliography of the species, only the original 
and the principal American works being cited. 
Lepidocyrtus Pusillus (Linn.) PI. XXVIII. 
1767. Podura pusilla Linn. Syst. Nat. Vol. XII. II, pg. 1014. 
1873. Lepidocyrtus pusillus. Packard. Syn. Thys. Essex Co., 
Mass. pg. 37. 
1891. Lepidocyrtus pusillus. MacGillivray. Canad. Ent., Vol. 
XXIII, pg. 272. 
1903. Lepidocyrtus pusillus. Guthrie. Coll, of Minn., pg. 88. 
(Description taken from living specimens.) 
Color: bluish-bronze or copper, varying from a yellowish tinge in some 
specimens to bright iridescent blue in freshly molted ones. The prevailing 
color is bronze, but the scales are so brightly iridescent that the same 
specimen may at one time appear bronze, at another blue. Antennae: 
blue, basal .segment more yellowish in tint; the blue color of the antennae 
always retained in mounted specimens; basal segment short, II and III of 
the same length, IV not quite so long as II and III taken together. Eyes: 
black; six, possibly eight, ocelli; eye spots plainly visible from dorsal 
surface at bases of antennae. Various long hairs are found scattered over 
the body. A long bent hair is situated on either side of abdominal seg¬ 
ments IV and V. Mesonotum in dorsal view a little over three times as 
long as metanotum. Abdominal segment IV. four and one-half times as 
long as III. Legs: tarsi with two claws, both curving in the same direc¬ 
tion; two teeth on larger claw, the distal one just opposite the apex of the 
smaller claw, the other midway between the distal tooth and the base of 
larger claw; long hairs present on both femur and tibia. Spring: tinged 
with blue, mucrones nearly white; manubrium quite a little shorter than 
dentes, very hairy, dentes long, slender, curved at apex, with sub-annula- 
tions on ventral surface; mucrones with two hooks, the apical one long and 
slender, a spur extending from base of mucrone to opposite point of ante- 
apical hook; two long, barbed hairs extending from dentes to below' end of 
mucrones; other long, curved hairs found scattered over dentes. Length 
1-1.5 mm. 
Habits: rather a solitary species, quite common among dead 
leaves, and under bark, but not in as wet situations as many 
Collembola. When a jar containing dead leaves and rotten 
wood is brought into the laboratory these insects almost invariably 
collect in the dryer material on top. If kept in a cell with an 
excess of moisture the}' soon die. One specimen measuring 1.5 
mm. was kept in a little earthen cell covered with a watch 
crystal for two months, from the first of March until the first of 
May. Before molting it appeared decidedly bronze to the 
naked eye, but afterwards the blues and purples were quite 
noticeable. Molting took place about every seven or eight days. 
So many varying descriptions of this species occur with contra¬ 
dictory characters that it is quite impossible to be positive as 
to the proper identification of specimens. The mesonotum 
does not project as it does in the extreme forms of Lepidocyrtus, 
although the head is always partially concealed. We believe 
