148 THE STREPSIPTERA, 



of which I had mistaken for an A cams. How this 

 animal receives its nourishment seems a mystery. 

 Upon examining the head under a strong magnifier, 

 I could not discover any mouth or proboscis with 

 which it might perforate the corneous covering of the 

 abdomen, and so support itself by suction; on the 

 under side of the head, at its junction with the body, 

 there was a concavity, but I could observe nothing 



in this but a uniform unbroken surface 



After I had examined one specimen, I attempted to 

 extract a second ; and the reader may imagine how 

 greatly my astonishment was increased when, after I 

 had drawn it out but a little way, I saw its skin 

 burst, and a head as black as ink, with large staring 

 eyes and antennae consisting of two branches, break 

 forth, and move itself briskly from side to side. It 

 looked like a little imp of darkness just emerging 

 from the infernal regions.^^ 



Such are the terms in which the first discoverer of 

 these curious parasites describes his discovery, and 

 such was almost the whole information with regard 

 to their natural history possessed by entomologists 

 for many years. Both in their structure and habits 

 these little creatures seemed to be perfectly anoma- 

 lous, and the most various positions were assigned to 

 them by different writers. Latreille himself almost 

 expresses an opinion that the species first discovered 

 was created for no other purpose than to " excruciate" 

 the mind of the entomologist by disturbing all his 

 previous ideas of classification, and he is compelled to 

 leave it to time to throw some light upon the puzzling 

 subject. A long period indeed elapsed before the 

 obscurity in which it was enshrouded by the (perhaps 

 unavoidable) errors of the first observers was dispelled. 





