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Psyche 7:159-161, 1894.

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PSYCHE.
THE AMERICAN SPECIES OF THE THYSANOURAN GENUS SEIRA.
BY F. L. HARVEY, ORONO, ME.
The only species of the genus
Seira that have been reported from
North America are Seira buskii
Lubbock and Seha $ur$wea Schott,
the former from New York and the
latter from California. Below is given
a description of a new species from
Maine belonging to this genus and
notes upon S. buskii Lubbock from
specimens taken in Maine. There is
another apparently undescribed species
in this region which is related to 5'.
fruni Nicolet, in having the head and
first thoracic segment yellowish and the body purple. We withhold a descrip-
tion of it at present prefering to study it farther. The detailed notes on S.
buskii Lubbock may aid in further
defining this species, and the description of 3'. $w$wea Schott may prove
interesting to entomologists who have
not access to Schott's paper.
Seira mimica, n. sp. Body fusiform,
slightly broadest at the fourth segment. General color pale dirty yellow or grayish with silver reflections. A deep purple inter- rupted band extending along the sides of the body. Body armed with numerous long
dark colored plumose bowed hairs, which are very conspicuous on the head and anterior part of the mesonotum giving a shaggy
appearance to the insect. These bowed
hairs are arranged in transverse rows upon the middle of the dorsnm of the inesonotnm, inetanoturn, and on the first three body seg- ments, the long fourth segment bearing
about three or four rows.
Head broadly oblong, one-Sfth longer than wide. A purple band along the anterior
border, connecting the antennae, including the darker eye patches, and extending to the cheeks when it broadens and covers most of the anterior aide of the head.
Antennae nearly two-thirds the length of the head and body; ratio 8:13 nearly, rather stout, purple, plumose hairy; basal joint and base of second joint pale, distal ends darker, third and fourth joints full purple; basal joint short about one-half second, second and third nearly equal, fourth slightly
longer. Mesonotum bordered anteriorly and at the sides with purple which does not show plainly in the dorsal view as the dense fringe of hairs conceals the color which shows well in rubbed or balsam specimens.
Metanotum and the first and second body
segments unmarked on the dorsum, but
purple spotted on the sides. Posterior
border of the third, fourth and fifth body segments and the whole of the sixth purple. The fourth segment, which is as long as the five preceding together, bears a purple spot upon each side near the middle and outer edge of the dorsal view.
Blater long, slender, pale yellow, hairy. Dentes annulated, the ventral edges tuber- cled with about two tubercles to each ring,



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160 PSYCHE. [November 1894.
ventral surface marked by fine transverse about a window, within a foot of a anastornosing reticulations. Mucrones end- la1mge coil a'nd appeared to enjoy ing in a curved claw which is armed with a it. Very active, running by starts.
prominent tooth near the end.
Legs rather long, purple, plumose hairy. in A good Claws stout longitudinally, finely striate, jumper. A large number observed qnd bearing three small teeth on the inner and examined during 1890-94, Orono, edge, and one on the outer edge.
A single Me., F. L, Harvey,
tenent hair clubbed at the end and extending l-llis illsect is Inore lilce seiya Ei gyo- nearly the length of the claw.
Shorter claw
plain.
maczilata Lubboclc than any described
species, agreeing in size, habit and
Common about the windows of the
college buildings where it has climbed
to the fourth story in Coburn Hall
numerous clubbed hairs, but differing
in the color and arrangement of the
color patches.
It may be known by its dirty yellow
ground color and markings of dark
purple, like that of a dark grape or
Seira mimica ; scales, x 150 and 250.
plum, and by its long antennae, long
fourth abdominal segnlent, and shaggy
'appearance. It is named Seira mim-
seira mimica, x 30. ica, because the form of the four pos- terior segments of the body, the color
which was built only four years ago.
markings and the bowed hairs com-
Found also about paper waste in the bined suggest the head of a rat or cellar and among books on library squirrel. shelves. It loves warm, dry situations. The drawings of the insect ( x 30) Several spent the winter in the cracks were made by Mr. J. H. Emerton from



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November 1894.1 PSYCHE. 161
live specimens ; those of the scales, from slides prepared by the writer, x 150 and 250. The head of the insect is more
nearly round and more narrowed
behind than shown in the drawing,
and the body is too wide at the
mesonoturn, the body being widest at
the beginning of the long fourth body
segment and sloping gradually to the
head.
Seira buskii Lubbock, Monograph Col-
lem. p. 145; Fig. PI. 22.
Dark violet when
mature. Younger specimens paler but the
color disposed as in the adults. Dorsutn of body and antennae violet. Head, proxi- mal segments of antennae, upper part of
femora, under surface of body and elater yellowish. Legs shaded with purple. Eyes eight on conspicuous dark patches which
extend backward a little on the cheeks
and are joined in front by a wide band.
Head conspicuous by its yellow color
.contrasting with the dark violet of the mesonotutn. Nearly round or broadly oval slightly longer than broad. *
Antennae purple or pale violet excepting the basal joint and base of the second joint which are yellowish brown. Second joint
equal or shorter than the third. Fourth
joint somewhat longer than the third. Basal joint short.
Body fusiform, broadest at the fifth
segment. Sixth body segment longer than
the three preceding. Thoracic bowed hairs conspicuous. Body clothed with scattered bowed hairs which are near the posterior part of the body and often 133 u, long.
Elater long, hairy. Dentes annulated
with numerous narrow rings. Hind legs
longest. Feet all alike. Small claw plain. Large claw armed with three small teeth in the inner face and one on the outer margin. A single tenent hair from 30 to 40 long
and extending nearly to the end of the claw, curved, swollen and beaked at the end on the side toward the claw. .
Scales about 3,'; (A long, variable in width, sometimes only half as broad as long, oblong, lanceoliite to ovate, the widest part near the base. Pedicil rather short and stout,
markings as shown in Lubbock's Mono-
graph, PI. 71 for Seira hskii Lubbock.
We give detailed measurements of t.wo
specimens which will show the variation. No. I. - Total length, exclusive of elater, 1.3 mm. ; head, .29 mm. long, .23 mm. broad; antennae, .532 mrn. ; joints, .053, .133, .146, .2 mm. Body 1.01 mm. long, .27 mm. broad at the fifth segment; sixth segment, .31g mm. as long as three preceding; spring, .605 tnm. long; manubrium, .339; dentes and mucrones together, .266 mm.
No. 2. -Total length, 1.72 rnm. ; head
.31g x -319 mm. ; antennae, .77 mm. ; segment .05, .239, .23g and -25 mm. Body 1.4 mm. ; sixth segment, .372 as long as the two pre- ceding; spring, .64 mm. ; manubrium, .239 nun. ; dentes and mucrones, .399 mm.
If Lubbock's measurements of S. bttskii
1-15 in.) express an average, then our
specimens are smaller, but if the extreme size, then the size is about the same, as some specimens measured were 1.75 mm.
Habitat. Lubbock says his speci-
mens were only found in greenhouses
and hot-houses and he doubts whether
the species is indigenous to Great
Britain. Our specimens were found in
the cellar of Coburn Hall at the Maine
State College where boxes from foreign
localities have been unpacked. The
specimens are abundant under rubbish,
among old papers and under boards on
the floor and about the window sills.
We have never taken it in the upper
floors of the building where .S. mimica
n. sp. is common, though both species




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162 ~~~ [November 1894-
occur in the cellar. We took one
specimen of what appeared to be this
species from under the bark of a dead
maple tree which would indicate that
it is possibly indigenous. It is reported from New York by Mr. Macgillivray
(Canad. Ent. Dec. 1891, p. 272) but
under what conditions is not mentioned.
Remarks. The meagre description
given by L~~bbock in his monograph
permits us to make but few comparisons
of the characters of our specimens with
S. buskii, yet though our specimens
differ in the shorter, basal, antenna1
joint and broader band between the
eyes, we see no reason for separating
our specimens, for they agree exactly
in form and other color markings.
Seira tztrpurea Schott, Beitrage zur Kennt- niss Kalifornischen Collembola, Bihang
Kongl. Svensk. vet. akad. handl. bd. 17 afd. iv, no. 8, p. 17, PI. IV. (fig. I). Flava, signaturis purpureis quae - in segmento
thoracico tertio et in begmento abdominis primo secundoque fascias, totain aream seg- menti non occupantes, formant. Segmenta
abdominalia cetera purpurea. Long. 2-1,
5 mm.
Da die Gattungen Entomobrya Rondani
und Sira Lubbock sich nur durch das Vor- handensein oder Nich tvorhandensein von
Schuppen unterscheiden, so ist es natiirlich unmoglich die Gattung der hierhergehor-
enden Formen zu bestimmen, da nur in
Weingeist conserviertes Material vorliegt. Wenn ich aber nun obige Form zur ersten
Gattung fullre, so geschieht dies nur wegen der Zeichnung derselben. Diese erinnert
insofern an diejenige bei unseren Sira-arten, dass keine Fascien mit scharf markierten Konturem wie bei alien bisher bekannten
zweifarbigen Entomobyra-formen vorhan-
den sind, sondern nur langgestreckte Flecke, die one scharfe Begrenzung in die Grund- farbe iibergehen. '
Die Form ist ausnehmend schon und von
den schwedischen Arten der Gattung Sira
Lubbock wohl unterschieden. Das erste
Thoracalsegment ist retviolett, das zweite oben ganz hell, hat aber an der Kante einen dunklen Rand, welcher von dem ganz
dunkel gefarbten Basalglied des zweiten
Extremitstenpaares, das wie die ubrigen
dunkle Cozalglieder hat, nach der entgegen- gesetzten Seite verlauft. Das dritte Tho- racalsegment und die beiden ersten Ahlomi- nalsegmente sind ungefahr gleich und mit violetten Qyerbandern versehen, die sich nur uber die Dorsalflache der Segmente
erstrecken, wohingegen die Seiten gelbweiss sind. Das dritte und vierte Abdominal-
segment sind vollig violett, das fiinfte und sechste von gemischtem Colorit. Das
Manubrium der Gabel und ein kleinerer teil der Dentes sind schwach violett, der ubrige Teil und die Endsegmente ungefirbt.
Der
Koff ist hell, die Augen stehen auf schwar- zen Elecken mit einer dunklen Verbindun- gslinie zwischen sich. Die Antcnnenflieder sind schwach violett, heller nach den
Spitzen hin. Die Abdominalsegmente,
besonders die hintern, sind mit dichten
Haaren versehen, die noch dichter auf den beiden Seiten sind und sich nach den Dentes furculae fortsetzen, auch in der Nacken- region befinden sich solche Haare.
A NEW FAMILY OF FOSSIL BEETLES. Palaeogyrinidae on a beetle showing a. combination of the characters of Gyrinidae In a recent paper on the fossil insects of and Dytiscidae.
Extinct types of insects of
Rott on the Rhine (Abh. naturf. ges. Halle, as high a grade as families are extremely rare xx) Schlechtendahl establishes a new family in the tertiaries.



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