122 
NEUROPTERA. 
fifth of an inch long, the largest never exceeding one-third of an inch. 
The antennae are slender, moderately long ; there are simple and com¬ 
pound eyes. The mouthparts are peculiar, and are apparently very 
greatly modified biting mouthparts, small and inconspicuous. The 
wings and legs are well developed, the former with comparatively few 
veins. Males and females are similar in general appearance. 
The life history is very imperfectly known. Eggs, often covered 
with excrementitious matter, are laid under webs produced by the pa¬ 
rents from silk excreted from the mouth. The young are nymphs simi¬ 
lar to the adults in general features and found gregariously with them. 
One species seems to be common in the plains, its eggs being laid on the 
leaf under webbing. A far larger and brighter species is found in the 
moister parts of India on tree trunks ; this appears to be Psocus lem- 
niscatus , EndL, found also in Java. The species live in the open on 
bark, under leaves, in damp places under shelter, on leaves; their food 
consists of animal or vegetable matter in the form of fungi, moulds, 
bark, etc. Others ( Atropides ) live in houses in damp close situations, a 
damp wall being a favourite place. The commonest species lives thus 
in houses, in damp paper, in damp corners, and this attacks and 
destroys dried insects. New insect 
store-boxes, if damp, breed them in 
great abundance, the little insects ap¬ 
parently finding food upon the damp 
paper: when insects specimens are put 
in, they feed within these and in time 
destroy them. 
The number of species of Psocids is 
apparently a large one, but as little 
attention is paid to them, few are 
described. Two sub-families are re¬ 
cognised, the winged Psocince with 
ocelli, the •Atropince which have rudi¬ 
mentary or no wings and no ocelli. 
Dr. Enderleins’ paper (Die Copeog- 
nathen des Indo-australischen Gebiet) 
enumerates ten species of the former from the Indian region, chiefly 
collected by Biro. One European species has been found in the 
Fig. 51—Atropos sp. 
{After Smith.) 
