350 Mr. Newport on the Natural History 
the extreme activity of body, and the consequent shortness of life in the 
male,—the invariable result of excessive action in organized beings,—all seem 
to have direct relation to this peculiarity of its matured instinct, while the 
great object of the existence of the entire family of these insects, as a part of 
creation, seems to be concentred in the parasitism of the larva. 
COMPARISON oF MELOE AND STYLOPS. 
Having traced the natural history of the Strepsiptera in connexion with 
their organization, we are now able to compare the facts of both with those 
of Meloé and its affinities. Both Meloe and Stylops, at the moment of 
escape from the egg, are hexapod insects, and both at that period attach 
themselves parasitically to other insects, Hymenoptera. The Stylops hatched 
within its parent, in the abdomen of the bee, issues forth and clings to the 
hairs which cover the body of the fated insect, and thus at once has a means 
of conveyance on the bee to her nest, in which it is to be fed. Thus provided 
at the instant of its birth with safe transport to its food, the Stylops scarcely 
requires the use of organs of consensual function, and, accordingly, we find 
that such organs, its antenne, its eyes, are almost entirely absent, its limbs 
alone being those which are then needed for its purpose. The Meloé, destined 
also to be conveyed by the active bee to its nest, is hatched at the roots of 
herbaceous plants, in the earth, and quickly after its evolution from the egg, 
climbs the stems of the flowers of Taraxacum and Ranunculus to gain the 
interior of their calyces, where it awaits amongst the petals to attach itself to 
the unwary insect the instant she alights to collect pollen for her young. But 
for the fulfilment of this great intent of nature, the young Meloé is not only 
furnished with powerful limbs, fitted to cling firmly to its victim, but also is 
endowed with amazing activity, and its consensual organs are extensively de- 
veloped, more especially those of vision. These organs are formed and per- 
fected long before it leaves the ovum ; and, consequent on this early maturity 
of structure, the function of these parts is extremely acute and instantaneous. 
T even in these the larval type of organization is still preserved. The eye, - 
as in the true parasitic Anoplura, is still but a single ocellus, on each side of 
lio. head; and although most exquisitely sensible of light, is totally unfitted 
m its structure for distant vision, but is admirably adapted to the microscopic 
