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STREPSIPTERA. 305 
extremely minute species, in his sweeping-net, in that island, and 
which I have described under the name of El. Templetonii ( Zrans. 
Eint. Soc. Lond. vol. i. p. 173. pl. 17. f. 15.); and R. H. Lewis 
informs me in a recent letter that he has captured a Stylopized bee 
in Van Diemen’s Land. Halictophagus has hitherto only occurred 
in England; indeed, English entomologists may justly be proud of 
the great share which they have had in extending our knowledge of 
the limits of this singular tribe of insects. 
These insects appear at different times of the year. The majority 
of the individuals of Stylops have been found in the beginning or 
middle of the spring, as early as the middle of March, until the middle 
of May, which is owing to the species of Andrene, which they infest, 
bursting forth at that time. Mr. Pickering’s discovery of one in the 
body of a bee which had not quitted its cell, in the month of De- 
cember, shows that the appearance of the Stylops is synchronous with 
that of the Andrena. Xenos Vesparum, according to Rossi, comes forth 
in August and September. The specimens of Elenchus tenuicornis A. 
have been captured in June and July, and beginning of August, by 
sweeping grass; and Halictophagus Curtisii on the 15th of August. 
It is exceedingly difficult to speak with decision as to the relations of 
this order. Rossi, the first observer of one of the species, regarded it 
as Hymenopterous, “ Insectum novi generis Ichneumoni proximum.” 
Mr. Kirby at first considered that, from its mode of life, it ought also 
to belong to that order, and to the genus Ichneumon, although so 
greatly differing from its characters; whilst, from its elytra, it ought 
to be Coleopterous, although possessing little of the general habits of 
that order ; adding, ‘‘ Perhaps it had better be considered as Hemipter- 
ous” [in the Linnean sense including the Orthoptera Oliv.*] ; “but, till 
an opportunity occurs of examining more specimens, it would be rash to 
speak too positively upon this head.” (Mon. Ap. Angl. vol. ii. p. 112.) 
In his more detailed memoir, published in the Linnean Transactions, 
Mr. Kirby observed that, “‘ With respect to the place of Strepsiptera 
in the system, it seems to me that this order should follow Coleoptera; 
for its metamorphosis being different from that of Orthoptera and 
Hemiptera, and nearer to that of Coleoptera, this seems its most 
natural situation, considered as an elytrophorous order.” — (Op. cit. 
* Mr. Haworth thought it as allied, but remotely, to those Cimices whose 
seutella cover the abdomens. (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1807, p. 60. ) 
VOL. II. x 
