MELITTA. (**. c) ill 



present genus. I had previously more than onee 

 observed upon other species something that I took 

 to be a kind oi Acarus, w^hich appeared to be im- 

 moveably fixed just at the inosculations of the dor- 

 sal segments of the abdomen : at length, finding 

 three or four upon a specimen oi M. nigro-cenea , I 

 determined not to lose that opportunity of taking 

 one off to examine and describe; but what was 

 my astonishment when upon my attempting to 

 disengage it with a pin, I drew forth from the body 

 of the Melitta a white, fleshy larva, a quarter of an 

 inch in length ; the head of which I had mistaken 

 for an Acarus{u). How this animal receives its 

 nourishment seems a mystery. Upon examining 

 the head under a strong magnifier 1 could not dis- 

 cover 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. As the 

 body of the animal is inserted in the body of the 

 Melitta, does that part receive its nutriment from 

 it by absorption ? My memory does not finish 

 me with any instance of this kind : but Irave the 

 vermes intestinales any mouth ^. 



After I had examined one specimen I attempted 

 to extract a second, and the reader may imagine 

 how greatly my astonishment was increased, when 



(u) Tab. 14. n. 1 1 . fig. 7. and fig; 9, a. {x) Ibid fig. 8^ 



(y) Ibid. fig. 7.^'. 



after 



