GENUS HOPLOPHORA. 651 



The Super-coxal glands are very well seen in dis- 

 sections. 



The Nymphs of this genus, in such cases as I am 

 acquainted with, are soft, yellowish-white creatures, 

 very fat and inactive, and without any aspis; this 

 causes the bulbous part of the mandibles to be seen 

 from the dorsal aspect, and as they are retracted 

 or protruded the creature seems to be altering the 

 shape of the front part of the cephalothorax, and lias 

 an appearance somewhat like a Tyroglyphus. It was 

 doubtless partly this that caused Claparede to say that 

 Hoplophora passed through, an Acarus-like stage. Dr. 

 M. Szanislo (in the ' Annalen fiir Oenologie,' 8te Band, 

 Heft 4, p. 307) has followed this idea further, and 

 actually proposes to treat Roplopliora and Tyroglyphus 

 as belonging to the same family, or even genus ; 

 Haller has very properly answered this (' Bntomolo- 

 gische Notizen '). The nymphs have not any power of 

 closing up or withdrawing their legs, &c., still if they 

 be carefully examined it will be seen that, allowing for 

 the entire absence of all hard chitinization in the 

 cuticle, and the effects cousequent upon this, they are 

 not so very unlike the adults. As to identifying the 

 nymphs of this genus, see my remarks relative to the 

 nymph of S. dasypus. 



The Larvae. — Nicolet states that one of the pecu- 

 liarities of this exceptional genus is that the larva 

 when it emerges from the egg is octopod, and Nicolet 

 paid a good deal of attention to the development of 

 Hoplophora. On the other hand, Claparede made this 

 development the subject of a special study, and he 

 states most distinctly that the larvae when they escape 

 from the Qgg are hexapod (Clap., p. 515), which is what 

 might be expected. But now comes the most curious 

 part of this disagreement. On referring to Claparede's 

 plates, it will be found that he draws his fully-formed 

 larva (fig. 5), apparently intended to be still within the 

 Qgg (Clap., p. 514), as octopod ; while Nicolet, as far as 

 can be judged from his far less distinct drawing, indi- 



