i6 ON THE ORIGIN AND [CHAP. 



no doubt ingenious, and the fact curiously resembles 



O 



the experience of navigators who have endeavoured 

 to introduce domestic animals among barbarous 

 tribes ; but M. Lepes has not yet, so far as I am 

 aware, published the details of his observations, with- 

 out which it is impossible to form a decided opinion. 

 I have sometimes wondered whether the ants have 

 any feeling of reverence for these beetles ; but the 

 whole subject is as yet very obscure, and would well 

 repay careful study. 



The order Strepsiptera are a small, but very re- 

 markable group of insects, parasitic on bees and wasps. 

 The larva (PL IV., Fig. 8) is minute, six-legged, and 

 very active ; it passes through its transformations 

 within the body of the bee or wasp. The male and 

 female are very dissimilar. The males are minute, 

 very active, short-lived, and excitable, with one pair 

 of large membranous wings. The females (PL III., Fig. 

 8), on the contrary, are almost motionless, and shaped 

 very much like a bottle ; they never quit the body of 

 the bee, but only thrust out the top of the bottle 

 between the abdominal rings of the bee. 



In the order Coleoptera, the larvae differ very much 

 in form. The majority are elongated, active, hexapod, 

 and more or less depressed ; but those of the Weevils 

 (PL II., Fig. 6), of Scolytus (PL II, Fig. 4), &c, which 

 are vegetable feeders, and live surrounded by their 

 food, as, for instance, in grain, nuts, &c, are apod, 

 white, fleshy grubs, not unlike those of bees and ants. 

 The larvae of the Longicorns, which live inside trees, 

 are long, soft, and fleshy, with six short legs. The 

 Geodephaga, corresponding with the Linnasan genera 



