86 SELECTED NOTES FROM 



Stylops Spencii (Parasite of Wild Bee). — The insects of this 

 order, Strepsiptera, are of small size, the largest being not a quarter 

 of an inch in length. The body is long and narrow, its greatest 

 extent being occupied by a very large and singularly developed 

 thorax. The general character of the body indicates great weak- 

 ness, and we find accordingly that the insects live but a very short 

 time in the imago state. The composition of the mouth is very 

 singular, exhibiting none of that complicated structure we see in 

 so many insects. This is in effect to be attributed to the fact that 

 the imago take little, if any, food during its short existence. 

 These insects are parasitic in their early state in the bodies of 

 various bees and wasps, the larva, when fully grown, protruding its 

 head between the abdominal segments of these insects, appearing 

 at first sight like a small flattened acarus." From lVest70ood's 

 Classification of Insects, where a long and interesting account of 

 the order is given. John Terry. 



Durio Zebethinus.— The stellate hairs of this plant are very 

 beautiful objects. The tree is an evergreen and a native of the 

 East Indies ; it therefore requires a hothouse to grow in, and as it 

 grows some sixty feet high, it is not likely to be very plentiful in 

 this country. It belongs to the order Malvacece. J. W. Crick. 



Stylops Spencii, — Mr. Terry's remarks would appear to apply 

 to the male insect only, seeing that the female is utterly degraded, 

 and passes its entire existence within the body of the host, the 

 head and part of the thorax only protruding between the abdo- 

 minal rings, in some cases causing considerable distortion to the 

 body. 



I have never been so fortunate as to take a male specimen of 

 Stylops, but some two or three years ago during a short stay at 

 Swanage, in April, I found that in colonies of bees, of the genus 

 Halictus, fully 25 per cent, of the swarm were stylopsed. The 

 sac-like abdomen was crowded with multitudes of minute Stylops 

 larvje, which at that time — possessing six legs and two long hair- 

 like appendages to the abdomen — presented a very different 

 appearance to either the mature male or female. E. Bostock. 



Dodder.— At Crowboro' I found a quantity of dodder on the 

 common Heath. A. Clarke-Smith. 



