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By V. R. Perkins, M.E.S.L. Plate 13. 



THAT the Stylopidae are a very interesting as well as a very 

 peculiar family of insects, there can be no doubt whatever. 

 When the first specimen of Stylops was discovered by 

 Kirby, he was completely puzzled as to what order it belonged, 

 and after a most critical examination of its structural characteris- 

 tics, he thought it remarkable enough to found a new order for its 

 reception — the order of Strepsiptera, or twisted-winged, from 

 the peculiar twist taken by their anterior wings, if such they can 

 be called. This order was placed next after the Hymenoptera. 

 It is composed of a very small group, three species only occurring 

 in England, all of small size, the largest not being a quarter of an 

 inch in length. These insects are what are termed personal para- 

 sites — that is, they live within the body of their victim, the wild 

 bee ; but as their structural characters vary slightly with regard to 

 each other, they are divided into as many genera as species. 



The general character of the perfect insects indicates great 

 weakness, and consequently their life is of very short duration, 

 limited in all probability to a few hours only. Their whole struc- 

 ture, however, is very remarkable. The eyes, from which the 

 typical genus takes its name, are very large, lateral, and promi- 

 nent, and being placed upon the contracted sides of the head, 

 give them the appearance of being pedunculated ; besides this, 

 they have remarkably few facets. The mouth is equally singular; 

 Westwood, who has examined and dissected several, tells us he 

 has not been able to detect any oral aperture whatever, and 

 therefore it is very probable that the perfect insect requires no 

 food during its short existence. The mandibles, maxills, and 

 labium are all so extraordinary as to have caused the Stylops to be 

 placed by different naturalists in almost every order of the 

 insecta : Hymenoptera, Diptera, Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, and 



