344 



on two individuals which, on re-examination, have proved to 

 be immature examples of the species described in 1898 by 

 Speiser as talpa from adult individuals. Such errors are 

 readily excusable in a group of which nothing or very little 

 was known at the time. The proof that the immature and 

 adult stages difíer in the development of the combs was brought 

 by Speiser, who discovered under the skin of a nymph of 

 Eoctenes spasmœ Waterh. (1879) a comb on the pronotum and 

 elytra, while the nymph itself had no comb in these places, the 

 nymph bearing one dorsal comb (the nuchal one), and the 

 imago forming in the nymph having three. Further evidence 

 was accorded to us by the discovery of an embryo in an ad- 

 vanced state of growth in a female of the African Eoctenes 

 nycteridis Horv. (1910). The female containing the embryo 

 was unfortunately glued on a card, and the embryo is conse- 

 quently so much shrivelled that only the more strongly chitinised 

 parts can be made out clearly. Moreover, large portions of the 

 embryo are rendered invisible, or are much obscured, by blotches 

 of the blood the mother has been sucking. In our figure, there- 

 fore, only those parts are outlined which are more or less distinct. 

 Most of the bristles, however, have been left out, though they 

 are clearly visible in the specimen (text-fig. 9). 



An examination of a number of females of various species, 

 either mounted in balsam or preserved in alcohol, has revealed 

 several embryos and has rendered it certain that the embryo 

 remains in the ovary until it is born. There are apparently 

 very few ovarial tubes (two or three on each side), and each 

 contains only one embryo, as in the case of Hemimerus. The 

 embryo reaches such a size that it almost fills half the abdomen 

 of the mother, and only one appears to become mature at the 

 time. The position of the left hindtarsus close to the anus 

 of the female renders it probable that the particular specimen 

 figured was on the point of being born when the mother was 

 caught and killed. 



As will be seen from the sketch (text-fig. 9), the head of 

 the embryo is bent ventrad as in Hemimerus, its undersurface 

 lying on the breast and the apex being directed anad. In the 

 figure the upper- and undersides are combined. The various 

 organs of the head can clearly be distinguished in the embryo, 



