187 
of the Stylopidce , and Eggs of Meloe. 
similarity of structure and habits, but which having crept upon 
the bodies of bees, are then supposed to be carried into the nests 
of those insects, where they grow, and at length appear as perfect 
Meloes. No one, it is admitted, has ever seen the larva of Meloe, 
except as one of these minute Pediculi melittce , as Kirby calls them ; 
and I have elsewhere said that, notwithstanding all the apparent 
proofs of their being the larvae of the Meloe, I cannot but think 
them in some unaccountable manner or other to be parasites, not 
only upon the bees, but also within the eggs of the Meloe. It is 
true many observers have seen them hatch from the eggs of the 
Meloe; it is just as true that every larva of the Stylops observed 
by Mr. Pickering and myself this year, produced the little crea- 
tures above described, yet I should be very fearful of asserting 
that the latter is the young of the Stylops ;* and yet, if such were 
really the case, it would not be more extraordinary than is the 
mode of production of the Coccus, or the fact that the Pediculus 
melittce is the young of the Meloe. If, again, (and there are so 
many characters in common between the two insects, that I am al- 
most warranted in making such a suggestion,) the minute Stylops 
parasite be the younger state of the Pediculus melittce, we should 
have an extraordinary fact, but one which the development of 
the Stylops parasite by no means would lead us to regard with 
additional surprise. There is also another fact relative to the 
Pediculus melittce, which appears to be overlooked, namely, that 
it does not confine itself to bees, but is found upon Tenthridinidce 
and other Hymenoptera, as well as upon Diptera. Its object, 
therefore, in mounting upon these insects, is not for the purpose 
of being carried into the nests of the bees as some authors have 
supposed. The general structure of the Pediculus melittce has 
been observed by Kirby, De Geer, Dufour, and others; but none 
of these authors have ever thought of examining the structure of 
the mouth of these insects. On carefully examining one of these 
insects captured upon a Tentliredo, I ascertained that its mouth 
is strictly mandibulated, and composed of the following organs : a 
pair of long acute and slender horny mandibles broad at the base, 
and rather impressed about the middle, folding upon each other 
like the jaws of a larva of Dyticus ; a pair of three-jointed 
maxillary palpi, having the two basal joints minute, and the 
terminal joint long and cylindric, arising from a broad mem- 
* What are the females of Stylops ? Is it possible that, like the females of 
Psyche, they do not leave their larva-abode, but retain their larva-form ? In such 
case the individuals producing these minute parasites may be females, and the 
parasites their young. 
