Thrips take their food, it is believed, in the same manner as Aphidae, by suction; but the details of the process are not by any means certain, and examination of the stomach is said to have resulted in finding pollen therein. Walsh thought that Thysanoptera pierce and suck Aphidae. An elaborate inquiry by Osborn[[459]] failed to elicit satisfactory confirmation of Walsh's idea, though Riley and Pergande support it to some extent; Osborn concludes that the ordinary food is not drawn directly from sap, but consists of exudation or pollen, the tissues of the plant being pierced only when a supply of food from the usual sources falls short. Members of this family have been reputed as being very injurious to cultivated plants, especially to cereals, and it is said that as a result the harvests in Europe have been seriously diminished. Several species may take part in the attacks. These appear to be directed chiefly against the inflorescence. Lindeman thought that Limothrips denticornis (= Thrips secalina), and Anthothrips aculeata (= Phloeothrips frumentarius), were the most destructive species in an attack of Thrips on corn that he investigated in Russia. Uzel suggests that injuries due to other causes are sometimes ascribed to Thrips.[[460]] In hot-houses these Insects are well known, and sometimes occasion considerable damage to foliage. The German horticulturalists call them black-fly, in distinction from Aphidae or green-fly. Some Thysanoptera live under bark, and even in fungi, and in Australia they form galls on the leaves of trees. This observation is due to Mr Froggatt, and is confirmed by specimens he sent to the writer. Vesicular bodies in the leaves of Acacia saligna were traversed on one side by a longitudinal slit, and on a section being made, nothing but Thrips, in various stages of growth, was found inside them. A second kind of gall, forming masses of considerable size on the twigs of Callistemon, is said by Mr Froggatt to be also due to Thrips, as is a third kind on Bursaria spinosa. It is curious that Thrips' galls have not been observed in other parts of the world.
Thysanoptera are devoured by small bugs of the genus Triphleps, as well as by beetles; a small Acarid attacks them by fixing itself to the body of the Thrips. Nematode worms and their eggs were found by Uzel in the body-cavity. He found no less than 200 Nematodes in one Thrips, and noticed that they had entirely destroyed the ovaries. Woodpeckers, according to him, tear off the bark of trees and eat the Thysanoptera that are concealed thereunder, though one would have surmised that these minute Insects are too small to be game for such birds. They have, it appears, no special protection, except that one species (a larva of Phloeothrips sp.) is said to emit a protective fluid.
Parthenogenesis seems to be frequent amongst Thysanoptera, and is found in concurrence with diversity as to winged and wingless females of the same species, so as to have given rise to the idea that the phenomena in this respect are parallel with those that are more widely known as occurring in Aphidae. Under certain circumstances few or no males are produced (one of the circumstances, according to Jordan, being season of the year), and the females continue the species parthenogenetically. In other cases, though males are produced they are in very small numbers. Some species of Thysanoptera are never winged; in others the individuals are winged or wingless according to sex. But there are other cases in which the female is usually wingless, and is exceptionally winged. The winged specimens in this case are, it is thought, of special use in disseminating the species. Jordan has suggested that these phenomena may be of a regular nature, but Uzel does not take this view. Another condition may be mentioned, in which the species is usually wingless, but winged individuals of the male as well as of the female sex occasionally appear. Thrips lini apparently makes regular migrations, feeding at one time underground on the roots of flax, and then changing to a life in the open air on other plants.
Numerous forms of Thysanoptera, belonging to both of the great divisions of the Order, have been found fossil in Europe and North America, but all are confined to deposits of the Tertiary epoch.
Of the 135 species known to Uzel, 117 are European; they are divided into two Sub-Orders. 1, Terebrantia, in which the females are provided with an external toothed ovipositor, of two valves; 2, Tubulifera, in which there is no ovipositor, and the extremity of the body is tubular in both sexes. The British species are about 50 in number, and were described by Haliday about 60 years ago;[[461]] of late they have been very little studied.
The name Physopoda or Physapoda is used for this Order, instead of Thysanoptera, by several naturalists.
CHAPTER VIII
HEMIPTERA—OR BUGS
Order IX. Hemiptera.
Mouth consisting of a proboscis or mobile beak (usually concealed by being bent under the body), appearing as a transversly-jointed rod or grooved sheath, in which are enclosed long slender setae (like horse-hairs). Wings (nearly always) four; the anterior frequently more horny than the posterior pair, and folding flat on the back, their apical portions usually more membranous than the base (Heteroptera); or the four wings may cover the abdomen in a roof-like manner, and those of the anterior pair may not have the basal and apical parts of different consistences (Homoptera); sometimes all four of the wings are transparent. The young resembles the adult in general form; the wings are developed outside the body, by growth, at the moults, of the sides of the hinder portions of the meso- and meta-notum; the metanotal prolongations being more or less concealed by the mesonotal.