OR BEE-PARASITES. 149 



and it is only within the last few years that we have 

 acquired anything like a complete history of these 

 singular little parasites, which must be regarded as 

 constituting one of the romances of entomology. 



As far as appearances go, the description of the 

 discovery of Stylops Melittce, quoted above from Mr, 

 Kirby^s admirable book, will serve to give the reader 

 a pretty good idea of the mode in which these insects 

 are to be found, for they are all parasitic upon different 

 species of Bees and Wasps. The principal error of 

 which that distinguished entomologist can be accused, 

 was the describing of the soft grub-like creature 

 which he first pulled out of the body of the Bee, as 

 the larva, it being in reality the female, and the little 

 " imp of darkness,'^ whose emergence from the " in- 

 fernal regions '^ is so graphically described, the male. 



The true larva, a soft, maggot-like creature, resides 

 in the interior of the larva of the Bee, and in the 

 abdomen of the Bee itself until it has attained its 

 fall size, when it undergoes a certain amount of 

 change, — the anterior portion of the body acquires a 

 horny consistence, and is pushed out between the 

 segments of the Bee^s abdomen, forming those little 

 flattened bodies, which first attracted Mr. Kirby's 

 attention, and which may be found very frequently 

 upon the surface of our early Bees {Andrence). This 

 is the only change to which the females are subject ; 

 but the males, which often differ from their partners 

 even in the larva state, become converted into true 

 pupse within the skin of the larva, and thus lie shel- 

 tered within the body of their victim, and separated 

 from the outer world by the small horny plate with 

 which their old integument terminates. But the 

 time soon arrives when the delicate little insect is to 



