THE SPRINGTAIl* 
' 54 ? 
GENUS II. — Podura. The Springta.il . 
There are above a dozen of different kinds of the fpring- 
tail j they derive their Englijh name from their habit 1 of 
bounding from the ground ; an exertion which is per- 
formed by means of the forked elaftic tail which bends 
under the body, and afts like a fpring. The antennas of 
the fpringtails are long and fetaceous ; their fix feet are 
formed for running ; and their eyes are compofed each of 
eight facets f. 
Podura villofa, the rough fpringtail, is a Britijh ini'eft, 
and the larged of the tribe known to us. The ground- 
colour is dark brown, mixed with a fliade of yellow, and 
variegated all over with ftreaks of black. The abdomen 
of this infeft alone is fmooth, the head being very much 
covered with hairs, which are fo deciduous, that they 
flick to the fingers on handling the animal ; the antennae, 
in the fubjea we faw, confifted of four articulations, and 
were nearly as long as the body. 
This lepifma is generally found below flones ; but 
there are others of the genus thatfeem purely aquatic, and 
able to walk and fltip upon the furface with apparent eafe. 
It is this fpecies that we may obferve in the mornings 
affembling in pretty numerous tribes upon the banks of 
ftagnated pools. Other fpecies refide among rotten bark, 
or decayed leaves ; and in Sweden there is a fpecies which 
rupS 
f Vide Syft. Nit. p. iot> 
