98 The Rev. Ww. Kırzy on a new Order of Insects. 
The me! 
e amorphosis then of these insects, though, in an improper 
sense, it may be denominated coarctate, is, strictly speaking, dif- 
ferent from that of every other known order, and something in- 
termediate between incomplete and coarctate. Even from this 
view of the subject it appears, I think, with no slight degree of 
evidence, that their claim to stand by themselves as a distinct 
‚order is very strong. 
But this will be demonstrated more satisfactorily when we 
consider the many extraordinary and unique characters exhi- 
bited by these insects in their perfect state. I shall first call the 
attention of the entomologist to those organs from which, in the 
Linnean system, the cliaraéters and denominations of the orders 
are chiefly taken ; I mean the elytra and the wings. 
"The three first orders only are distinguished by elytra or heme- 
Miss there is no necessity, therefore, to compare our insects in 
this respect with any other; and since all the true Hemiptera 
take their food by suction by means of an oral or pectoral ros- 
trum, which forms one essential diagnostic of the order, these 
also may be put out of the question, the Stylops tribe having 
mandibles and palpi and no rostrum. 
The elytra of the insects in question, as to their substance, 
agree certainly with those of many Coleoptera, being soft, flexile, 
and coriaceous, as is the case with Cantharis and others* : but in 
situation, direction, and connection they differ from every Cole- 
opterous and Orthopterous genus. With respect to situation, 
they are placed very near the head of the insect, not on the back, 
but, which is a circumstance most singular and without parallel 
in the entomological world, apparently attached to the coxz of 
* Viz. The Malocodermi Lair. Gen. Crust, et Ins. i, Insecta Pterodicera Ord. i. 
Fam. v. p. 292—268. ps 
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