350 Mr. Newport on the Natural History 



the extreme activity of body, and the consequent shortness of life in the 

 male, — the invariable result of excessive action in organized beings, — all seem 

 to have direct relation to this peculiarity of its matured instinct, while the 

 great object of the existence of the entire family of these insects, as a part of 

 creation, seems to be concentred in the parasitism of the larva. 



Comparison of Meloe and Stylops. 



Having traced the natural history of the Strepslptera in connexion with 

 their organization, we are now able to compare the facts of both with those 

 of Meloe and its affinities. Both Meloe and Stylops, at the moment of 

 escape from the egg, are hexapod insects, and both at that period attach 

 themselves parasitically to other insects, Hymenoptera. The Stylops hatched 

 within its parent, in the abdomen of the bee, issues forth and clings to the 

 hairs which cover the body of the fated insect, and thus at once has a means 

 of conveyance on the bee to her nest, in which it is to be fed. Thus provided 

 at the instant of its birth with safe transport to its food, the Stylops scarcely 

 requires the use of organs of consensual function, and, accordingly, we find 

 that such organs, its antennae, its eyes, are almost entirely absent, its limbs 

 alone being those which are then needed for its purpose. The Meloe, destined 

 also to be conveyed by the active bee to its nest, is hatched at the roots of 

 herbaceous plants, in the earth, and quickly after its evolution from the egg, 

 climbs the stems of the flowers of Taraxacum and Ranunculus to gain the 

 interior of their calyces, where it awaits amongst the petals to attach itself to 

 the unwary insect the instant she alights to collect pollen for her young. But 

 for the fulfilment of this great intent of nature, the young Meloe is not only 

 furnished with powerful limbs, fitted to cling firmly to its victim, but also is 

 endowed with amazing activity, and its consensual organs are extensively de- 

 veloped, more especially those of vision. These organs are formed and per- 

 fected long before it leaves the ovum ; and, consequent on this early maturity 

 of structure, the function of these parts is extremely acute and instantaneous. 

 Yet even in these the larval type of organization is still preserved. The eye, 

 as in the true parasitic Anoplura, is still but a single ocellus, on each side of 

 the head; and although most exquisitely sensible of light, is totally unfitted 

 in its structure for distant vision, but is admirably adapted to the microscopic 



