Miscellaneous. 298 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Metamorphoses of the Strepsiptera. By Dr. Siebold of 

 Erlangen. 



The species on which Dr. Siebold has made his observations are 

 Stylops Melitt€e, and Xenos Rossii and Sphecidarum. 



The diminutive, parasitic Strepsiptera, the giant of which scarcely 

 exceeds one-fourth of an inch in length, are of especial interest to 

 this Society. Discovered and first described by our venerable friend 

 Mr. Kirby, we have adopted the Stylops as our emblem ; any elu- 

 cidation of its heretofore obscure natural history must therefore be 

 of particular interest to us. This has been supplied by Dr. Siebold, 

 who now shows that the Strepsiptera undergo a singular metamor- 

 phosis ; that the males and females differ from each other, the me- 

 tamorphosis of the males being complete, they alone being furnished 

 with wings: the females, on the contrary, have neither legs, wings, nor 

 eyes, and greatly resemble larvae. These females are viviparous, and 

 never quit the bodies of the Hymenoptera in which they live as para- 

 sites. The young Strepsiptera, at the moment that they burst the eggs 

 in which they are developed, within the body of the parent, have six 

 legs, and are furnished with organs of manducation. These are the 

 diminutive objects described in Mr. Westwood's paper, in a former 

 volume of our Transactions, as the parasites of Stylops ; and as such 

 they were regarded at first by Klug and also by Dr. Siebold. These 

 little hexapodous larvae infest the surface of the abdomen of bees, 

 within which their parent-mothers live and die. In this way the 

 young Stylops is carried into the nests of the Hymenoptera, and 

 escaping on the bodies of the larvae, penetrate their soft skins, and 

 become parasites on them as their parents have been in the bodies 

 of the female bees. These larvae shed their skins, become apodal, 

 and move very slowly. They have then a distinct mouth and jaws, 

 and a simple caecal intestine, but no anal aperture. The body is 

 formed of nine segments, of which the first is the largest, and may 

 be considered as a cephalothorax. In this state the males are 

 easily distinguished from the females. The cephalothorax of the 

 male larva is conical and arched, and the last segment of the body 

 is straight and pointed. In the females the cephalothorax is trun- 

 cated or rounded in front, and flattened, or scale-like, in the rest 

 of its extent, and the terminal segment of the body is large and 

 rounded. — From the Anniversary Address delivered at the Entomolo- 

 gical Society, Feb. 10, 1845, by the President, G. Newport, F.R.C.S. 



Description of a new species of Nymphon, By H. D. Goodsir, Esq. 



Nymphon giganteum. — With the palpi twice as long as the rostrum, 

 and the last two joints of equal length ; with the pincers of the man- 

 dibles very long, slender and linear ; and with the oviferous legs 

 longer than the first four joints of the ambulatory legs. 



Description. — The whole animal of a straw-colour, except the 



