THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 469 



maxillae, legs, nor wings ; and those of Sycocrypta, although 

 rejoicing in antennaB and legs, exist without activity, and 

 these insects if extracted from their dwelling-place — the 

 fleshy interior of the fig — roll themselves together, and remain 

 absolutely motionless. 



I have purposely refrained from describing Hsematomyzus 

 Elephantis ; first, because this has been done well already ;* 

 and secondly, because the copied figure answers every 

 purpose of a description. The difference between this louse 

 and that of the pig is extremely small; the slightly longer 

 beak of Hsematomyzus is only what might have been 

 predicted of an insect destined to feed on so ponderous a 

 pachyderm; and it is highly probable that intermediate 

 forms, even in this respect, will eventually be discovered on 

 Hippopotamus, Tapirus, Phacochcerus, Dicoteles, Rhino- 

 ceros, and Hyrax, each of these animals having, doubtless, a 

 genus of parasite as distinct as those of the elephant and 

 swine. 



Without entering very minutely into anatomical details, 

 indeed without the same patient and thorough investigation 

 that Nilzsch has bestowed on the enquiry, we shall never be 

 able to invalidate his conclusion that the Pediculidae form 

 part of the Hemiptera, and I can readily believe that with 

 such thorough and patient investigation our conclusions will 

 be the same as his. I think, also, that most of our reflecting 

 entomologists will agree with Dr. Burmeister in ranking the 

 Lepismidae as undeveloped or, perhaps, as degraded allies of 

 the Epheraeridae, and therefore Neuroptera. That eccentric 

 little insect, Aleyrodes, in the same way, seems an imperfect 

 and diminished form of Stegoptera. 1 have shown, to the 

 satisfaction of all entomologists whose approbation I desire, 

 that Stylops is nothing but a Coleopteron, whose female 

 wears an altered form, and the elytra of whose male are 

 reduced almost to nonentities ; and Haliday long since pro- 

 nounced the flea a Dipteron without wings. Thus, these 

 aberrant, degraded, depauperated, or imperfectly- developed 

 insects, as they have variously been called, seem to fall into 

 the ordinary ranks as arranged by general consent of 



* " Hsematomyzus g. n. Piaget, Tijdschr. voor Ent. 2nd Series, vol. iv. 

 p. 254. Sp. H."^ Elephantis sp.n. Fiaget, I.e. p. 254, pi. 11, figs. 1—14." 

 Idolocoris Elephantis, IJ'alkcr, Sci. Goss. 1871, p. 132. 



