150 THE STREPSIPTERA, 



seek his mate, the little horny cap gives way, and he 

 emerges into light and air. A curious little fellow he 

 is, but not without considerable pretensions to elegance 

 in his appearance. A black velvet-like body, com- 

 posed principally of an enormous thorax, of which 

 again the greater part is made up of the metathorax, 

 is terminated in front by a small transverse head, 

 bearing a pair of branched antennae, and of prominent 

 or even pedunculated eyes, the latter consisting of a 

 remarkably small number of lenses, which are sepa- 

 rated from each other by raised partitions, so as to 

 give the surface of the eyes a cellular appearance. 

 The mouth exhibits a pair of slender acute mandibles, 

 and a pair of minute maxillae, each of the latter bear- 

 ing a rather large thi-ee-jointed palpus; but these 

 organs are evidently inapplicable to any useful purpose, 

 and as the animal lives but for a few hours after 

 quitting its pupa-case, he has probably no need of 

 nourishment. Each segment of the thorax bears a 

 pair of short but well-formed legs, furnished with 

 four-jointed tarsi, -which, although destitute of claws, 

 are provided with soft cushions on the lower surfaces 

 of their joints, which are doubtless of great service to 

 the little Sty lops in enabling him to cling firmly to 

 the sm^face of the Bee, whose integuments enclose the 

 dwelling of his " ladye-love.^^ But although, as in 

 the case above described, males and females may 

 often be found in the same bee, it is more usual for 

 each infested bee to furnish nom^ishment only for a 

 single parasite, so that the males have generally to 

 quit their birthplace in search of their partners ; and 

 to facilitate this operation they are famished with a 

 large pair of filmy wings, resembling white gauze, 

 which fold up like a fan when not in use, and when 



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