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were more nearly allied to the Coleoptera and Hymenoptera 

 than to any other order of insects. But I did not venture 

 (nor shall I now) to place them in the order Coleoptera al- 

 though in organization the Strepsiptera are coleopterous rather 

 than hymenopterous. Moreover the young larvse are very 

 much like those of Symbius, which likewise are parasitical in 

 their habits. The structure of their feet, however, removes 

 them decidedly from the Coleoptera, and still more the pecu- 

 liarities of their transformations. No instance is known among 

 the Coleoptera of any Iarva3 being pedate and active when 

 youno-, footless and fixed subsequently, and becoming coarctate 

 pupaa. The fact also that the female remains in an apparently 

 undeveloped state within the larval skin, and has to be im- 

 pregnated (as that of Oiketicus is) through an opening in the 

 head of the pupa, is an anomaly without precedent among these 

 orders of insects. I do not know who has had the hardihood 

 to crowd the Strepsiptera into the order Coleoptera; but it 

 certainly is a measure as inappropriate as that of putting the 

 Mallopliaga (Nirmus, etc.) among the Orthoptera and 

 Neuroptera, as some naturalists have done. When you come 

 to consider the entire structure in detail, and the singular trans- 

 formation of the insects, you will see that the latter must stand 

 by themselves, and that they cannot be placed in the order 

 Coleoptera without violating all analogies, and all legitimate 

 rules of classification. The mere possession of the abortive 

 elytra and slender mandibular organs is not enough to justify 

 such a step. Their other relations to the Coleoptera are over- 

 balanced by structures far removed from what are found in that 

 order. I express this opinion with great confidence, after long 

 consideration of the subject, and patient investigation, with the 

 best lights afforded by my own observations and the various 

 published memoirs on these insects. 



