mth a Notice of Chiasogndthus Grdntii, 



321 



We next proceed to the discovery and description of that 

 perplexing insect, the Stylops melittae, and the establishment 

 of the order Strepsiptera, the credit of which ought, in justice, 

 to be given to Mr. Kirby ; Rossi's meagre notice being almost 

 worthless. These creatures, in their preparatory state, in- 

 habit the interior of the abdomen of certain bees and wasps, 

 from which they extricate themselves on arriving at their 

 perfect state. Fig, 69. represents Dr. Leach's species, Stylops 



KirbzV, in the per- 

 fect state, and ex- 

 hibits the forked 

 antennae, the re- 

 markable fan-like 

 wings, and the 

 short lateral ap- 

 pendages of the 

 thorax, which ana- 

 logically represent 

 the true elytra, as 

 Latreille, in fact, 

 proved in the Ann. 

 Gen. des Scienc. 

 Phi/s., vol. vi., by 

 discovering their attachment to the mesothorax (see Kirby 

 and Spence, iii. 592. note), long before Mr. Curtis published 

 his illustration of the genus, in which he claimed this discovery. 

 It has long been known that the genus Xenos (having the 

 antennae not articulated beyond the fork) is found both in the 

 old and new world, but no species of Stylops (which has one 

 of the branches of the antennae jointed after the furcation) 

 has hitherto been recorded as found in America. Mr. G. B. 

 Sowerby has, however, had the good fortune to extract two 

 specimens of a species of this genus (Stylops Children? G. R. 

 Gray), out of the abdomen of a North American bee, and I have 

 figured it, with numerous details, in Griffith's translation of 

 Le Regne Animal^ Ins. pi. 59. 



Mr. Curtis has recently established a third genus, in this 

 singular order, under the name of Elenchus [a clearing up, 

 a demonstration]. It is to be regretted, that, in illustrating 

 the genus, Mr. Curtis did not introduce a figure of the front 

 of the head. This would have cleared up the doubts which 

 now exist respecting the structure of the only parts of the 

 mouth which he has mentioned. In his description, these 

 parts are described as " maxillae, long, slender, lanceolate, 

 and horny," and the fig. w 3. corresponds with this descrip- 

 tion, whilst in his fig. D 3., the organ which is figured is repre- 

 VoL. V. — No. 26. T 



