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XVII. The Natural History, Anatomy, and Development o/'Meloe {continued). 

 By George Newport, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. ^c. S^c. 



Second Memoir. 



The History and General Anatomy of Meloe, and its Affinities, compared 

 with those of the Strepsiptera and Anoplura, with reference to the con- 

 nexion which exists between Structure, Function, and Instinct. 



Read January 19th, 1847. 



XN the memoir on Meloe which I had the honour of communicating to this 

 Society in November 1845, 1 endeavoured to trace the natural history of the 

 genus. Hereafter I propose to enter fully on the anatomy of the species, in 

 the larva, nymph, and imago states, and to compare it, so far as we are able, 

 with that of allied genera. 



On the present occasion, before entering on the details of special structure, 

 I shall endeavour to show that structure and instinct are closely associated ; 

 that the whole of those groups of insects which are most nearly allied to the 

 Meloes in general organization are also very similar to them in their habits 

 and economy; and that, in their" larva state, they have many analogies with 

 the Anoplura, and with the Strepsiptera, the history of which I shall trace, to 

 compare with that of 3'Ieloe. In those insects in which the general form of 

 body, or of any important organ, is markedly different from the type we are 

 considering, we always find that there are corresponding differences in the 

 economy of the species. When the entire organism of a structure is modified, 

 then the functions of that structure, and the habits of the species associated 

 with it, are in some respects completely changed. But when a structure is 

 simply hypertrophied, or atrophied, then that particular instinct, of which it is 

 the agent, continues to be more or less strongly characteristic of the animal. 



This law of accordance between structure and function is universal through- 



