6 



il is thus arranged : first, there is a series of short latnellations or foliations, which 

 cniunieuce close behind the head and reach to the middle of the back ; and these, 

 considered as a whole, constitute a very respectable little larva, not much unlike the 

 larva of a glowworm when two or three days old : close at the end of this series of 

 scales is the anal aperture; and, as the series itself is only half as long as the insect, 

 it follows that this aperture is exactly in the middle of the back : on each side of the 

 first series of plates are four other plates, not touching each other, but placed at regular 

 distances; these are small, short and rounded, in fact almost semicircular: beyond 

 these again, on each side, are ten longer plates, symmetrically arranged ; these are 

 soldered together with exquisite exactness, their sides curved, their ends rounded, and 

 each of their connecting sutures having a slightly altered angle, so that, allhough the 

 first suture is placed transversely to the mesial line of the body, the last is longitudi- 

 nal, and therefore parallel to the mesial line. These various scales or plates constitute 

 a sculptured oval shield of the most elegant design and finish; and, out of respect to 

 entomological usage, I would at once call it the thorax, but then the rest of the body 

 must be the abdomen, and thus the anal aperture, or more properly the external 

 opening of the oviduct, would be placed in the thorax, a situation indeed assigned to 

 it by the illustrious Newport in the case of Stylops, but otherwise unknown throughout 

 the insect world. Well! from beneath this shield, which we may compare to the body 

 of a lady's dress, emerges an ample skirt, having fourteen plates, lamellations or folds, 

 long, longitudinal and parallel : this skirt is about as long as the body, and is entirely 

 posterior to the aforesaid opening of the oviduct. The under side of the insect is not 

 folded or lamellated, but is smooth, tumid, and gradually sloped ofi' towards the end, 

 just like a ship's bottom : it is perfectly undivided, exhibitiug not the slightest indica- 

 tion of abdominal segmentation. 



" Now what I am going to narrate may or may not be the economy of the genus, 

 or even of the species; it was the economy of this individual female: the lady may 

 have been crossed in love, like oysters, whose liability to the same misfortue was dis- 

 covered by Shakspere; again, she may have remained permanently and pertinaciously 

 a spinster, like Diana, or like the entomologically-familiar Aphis-mother: in fact one 

 may speculate ad infinitum on causes, — I have only to deal with results. Certain it 

 is that parturition took place through the aperture in the middle of the back: out of 

 this the young ones sallied one after another, and ran about over their mother's body, 

 just as I have seen rabbits issue from their burrow and course one another over the 

 frost-hardened surface of the snow : they looked exactly like little Acari, and, con- 

 trasted with their very quiet, sedate, and almost lethargic mother, were eminently 

 ' fast young men ' scampering over the body of their parent, clustering about her head 

 and performing all manner of gymnastic exercises on her antenna): indeed, greatly 

 to the credit of such restless beings, il must be allowed that, by all kinds of fondling, 

 they seemed determined to exhibit the most ardent filial afl'eclion ; but this highly 

 demonstrative exhibition was not apparently returned by any maternal storge, for 

 nothing could have been more stolid or apathetic than the demeanour of the mother 

 under all this fondling. However, the scene lasted but a short time: mother and 

 children were starved to death, and the latter were placed under the microscope. It 

 only remains to say a few words descriptive of the young, and first as to size and pro- 

 poitions. Measured longitudinally and transversely I found the body was •024 inch, 

 so that it was nearly a circular disk, presenting, however, a number of elevations, de- 

 pressions and irregularities, which possibly resulted from drying : the colour was 



