LEPISMIDAE. 
45 
cerci of which the middle is the longest. On the ventral surface of 
the second and third thoracic and each abdominal segment is a slender 
jointed appendage, those on the 6th, 7'th and 8th abdominal segments 
being longest. The legs are simple, tapering, the joints little differen¬ 
tiated, the tarsi two jointed. The female has a straight slender 
ovipositor. These little insects run on rocks and live in the cracks; they 
are apparently nocturnal and appear to feed on lichens on the rocks. 
Fig. 4-—Lepisma saccharina x 6. 
[From Lubbock), 
Assmuthia is a termit- 
ophilous genus constituted 
by Escherich for the recep¬ 
tion of A. sfinosissima and 
A. inermis from India (Zool. 
Anz. 30, p. 744). Platy- 
stelea harbifer , Esch. is also 
recorded from nests of ter¬ 
mites in India. 
LEPISMXDiE, 
Body flattened , clothed in 
scales; eyes small , mouth - 
farts exserted. 
The common fish insects 
of houses are members of 
this family and are found 
throughout India, as pract¬ 
ically throughout the world. 
Annandale has recorded 
Lefisma (Acrotelsa) collaris, 
Fabr.,asa fish insect of Cal¬ 
cutta (Journ. Asiat. Soc., 
Bengal, 1906, Vol. II, p. 
346), and mentions this as 
the only recorded Indian 
species. The Himalayan 
species is apparently L . 
saccharina (Fig. 4). 
