522 



DIPTERA APHANIPTERA 



CHAP. 



Insects looking as if the upper were the under surface. They 

 are wingless, with a narrow head, which reposes on the hack of the 

 thorax. The prothorax appears to be seated on the dorsuin of the 

 mesothorax. According to Miiggenburg there is no trace of a 

 ptilinum. A brief note on the metamorphosis 1 by Baron Osten 

 Sacken indicates that the mature larva differs from that of 



FIG. 249. Anterior part of the body of Nycteribia sp., found on Xantharpyia straw inea 

 by Colonel Yerbtiry at Aden. A, Upper surface of female, with head extended ; 

 B, under surface of male, with head extended ; C, claws of a foot. 



Melophagus in the arrangement of the stigmata ; they appear to 

 be dorsal instead of terminal. There are apparently no characters 

 of sufficient importance to justify the association of these 

 Insects with the other divisions of Pupipara ; the sole ground 

 for this connection being the supposed nature of the life-history 

 of the larva. 



Sub-Order Aphaniptera or Siphonaptera (Fleas') 



Fam. Pulicidae. Wingless, with the body laterally compressed, 

 so that the transverse diameter is small, the vertical one great. The 

 licinl indistinctly separated from tlie l>t>dj/, smal/, iritJi s/mrt thick 

 antennae />/<tccd in depressions so/in'/r//,/f, behind and above the vn- 

 facetedeyes. Tliexc are always minute, and sometimes tra-itting. 



1 Tr. cut. Sue. London, 1881, p. 360. 



