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XVIII. On the Ocelli in the Genus Anthophorabia. 
By GEORGE Newport, Esq., F.R.S., F.L.S. Se. 
Read April 19, 1853. 
SINCE the publication of my observations on the genus Anthophorabia, in the Transac- 
tions of the Society*, my attention has again been directed to the peculiarities exhibited 
by the principal organs of sense, and to the differences which exist in the comparative 
anatomy of these structures, the eyes, in the two sexes of insects of this genus. I now 
propose to offer a few remarks on the nature of these differences, in accordance with 
certain well-established laws in the anatomy and development of animals, and in extension 
of views which I have already begun to elucidate in the memoirs I have had the pleasure 
of communicating to this Society on the anatomy and development of Meloé. 
On a former occasion t I pointed out the curious circumstance that the male individuals - 
of this genus have ocelli at the sides of the head, instead of the large compound eyes which 
exist in the females, and other Hymenoptera, and that they have also three ocelli on 
the vertex. The existence of lateral ocelli in Anthophorabia, at precisely similar parts of 
the head as the compound eyes and ocelli in other insects, is incontrovertible, and yet it 
has been denied. It is equally certain that these structures, as I shall endeavour to show, 
are true representatives of organs of vision ; and that, imperfect as they are, they are good 
generic distinctions. 
The appearance which they exhibit under the microscope is, indeed, such as might 
readily induce those who are imperfectly acquainted with the laws of structural anatomy 
to regard them as merely coloured portions of the surface of the head, and not as ocelli, 
or organs of vision in any stage of development ; and such observers might feel themselves 
supported in this opinion by the circumstance that there are also appearances on the 
cephalo-thorax of certain species of Arachnida, in the precise situation of ocelli in other 
species, which, by. some, are regarded as mere spots or markings of the tegument, and not 
as the representatives of eyes. 
This opinion would be fully entitled to respect, so long as its authors maintained it as 
am opinion, and made no attempt to enforce it in opposition to principles which are sus- 
ceptible of demonstration, or to support it by supposed analogies. 
To judge aright of the nature of the lateral ocelli, in the male uopo, we must 
not only remember that they correspond precisely, in situation, to the eyes in the female, 
but must also call to mind what are the essential conditions of a structure which is spe- 
cially destined for the appreciation of light. 
Professor Owen has stated } that the lowest form of this structure in Fishes is— 
* Vol. xxi. pp. 63 & 79. + Loc. cit. p. 64. t. 8. figs. 1 & 4. 1 Lectures, p. 202, 1846. 
