VII 



BRAULIDAE STREBLIDAE NYCTERIBIIDAE 



521 



the bee, and appears as the perfect Insect in about twenty-one 

 i lays. Miiggenburg suggests that Braula may be oviparous, as he 

 has never found a larva in the abdomen. Packard says that on the 

 <lay the larva hatches from the egg it sheds its skin and turns to an 

 oval puparium of a dark brown colour. The Insect is frequently 

 though inappropriately called bee-louse ; notwithstanding its name 

 it is not quite blind, though the eyes are very imperfect. 



Fam. 42. Streblidae. - - Winged ; possessing halteres ; the 

 I i cad small, narrow and free. These very rare Diptera are 

 altogether problematic. According to Kolenati the larvae live in 

 bats' excrement and the perfect Insects 011 the bats. 1 If the 

 former statement be correct the Insects can scarcely prove to be 

 Pupipara. The wing-nervuration is, in the figures of the 

 Kussian author, quite different from that of Hippoboscidae. The 

 Streblidae have been associated by some entomologists with 

 ]STycteribiidae, and by Williston with Hippoboscidae. 



Family 43. Nycteribiidae. The species of this family are 



v l /~^^^~~ /~ezz~^ ~~^^ 



FIG. 248. Nycteribia sp. , from Xantharpyia stra?ninea. Aden. A, Upper surface of 

 female, with head in the position of repose ; B, under surface of male. x If-. 



found on bats; they are apparently rare, and we have been able 



to examine only one species. The form is very peculiar, the 



' Home Soc. ent. Eoss. ii. 1863, p. 90. 



