CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERMITES. 55 



APPENDIX II. 



Contributions to the Study of the EiviBiiDiE. 



(Vol. 39,Pl. 19). 



The EmbiidsB have been consigned by systematists to a 

 position in the zoological scale scarcely a degree lower than that 

 occupied by the Termitidae in the Corrodentia. If this is 

 their position, they might be expected at least to manifest 

 something of the extraordinary perfection of qualities ex- 

 hibited by the Termitidae, and for this reason I decided to 

 include them in my studies. 



A preliminary survey of the literature on the subject, which 

 is fully given in Dr. Hagen's " Monograph of theEmbidina/^^ 

 at once showed me that almost nothing was known about 

 either the anatomy or the biology of the Embiidae, and I was 

 therefore compelled to make original investigations. These, 

 as will be seen, force me to conclude simply that the family 

 forms a separate branch of the Orthoptera (s. lat.) of uncer- 

 tain position, and in any case without direct relationship to 

 the Termitidse. I propose, therefore, briefly to epitomise the 

 results of my studies, and to limit myself to a sketch of 

 the anatomy and biology of the Embiidse. 



The species I have investigated is widely distributed in 

 Italy, and is probably, as I shall show later, Embia solieri, 

 Rarabur.2 Hitherto the larva alone of this species has been 

 known very imperfectly ; and that it has even been doubtful 

 whether it acquired wings or not.^ 



The external features of the species in question will first be 

 dealt with. 



» ' Canad. Ent.,' xvii (1885), pp. 141—155, 171—178, 190—199, 206—229. 

 * ['Hist. Nat. des Insectes — Neuropteres,' p. 313, No. 4.] 

 ^ [The fact that the larva only of E. solieri has been previously recorded 

 from various parts of Europe appears to have depended on the unfounded 

 hypothesis that the insect must necessarily be winged in the perfect state.] 



