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XXI. On the larva of Nycteribia. By Baron R. 
OsTEN-SACKEN. 
[Read July 6th, 1881.] 
Piatt XVI. 
TurovueuH the kindness of Mr. Alois Humbert, of Geneva, 
I came in possession lately of a statement concerning a 
direct observation on the oviposition of Nycteribia, and, 
not being aware of the existence, in print, of a similar 
statement, I deem it worth while to communicate this 
note. Our present knowledge on the subject of the 
development of Nycteribia is confined, as far as I know, 
to Professor Westwood’s observations, recorded in the 
earliest monograph of that genus (Trans. Zool. Soc. 
1835, p. 283). In order to disprove Latreille’s supposi- 
tion, that insects of this genus grow, like spiders or lice, 
Professor Westwood extracted a Nycteribia in the pupa 
state from the body of the mother insect, and thus 
showed that its development was similar to that of 
Hippobosca. He also gave three figures of the puparium. 
The next and only other statement which I can find on 
this subject is that of Kolenati (Hore Entom. Ross. i. 
26, 1862), who says:—‘‘The freshly-laid pupe of 
Nycterihia are bluish, and assume afterwards the shape 
of brown, barrel-shaped puparia; an opercule bursts 
open when the imago is ready to escape. I have myself 
found such puparia in the fur of Vespertilios ; they were 
fastened near the base of the hairs, and had the oper- 
cules still attached.” It would appear from Kolenati’s 
wording that he merely saw the dry puparia, and that 
the bluish colour of the freshly-laid ones was recorded by 
somebody else ; but I have failed to discover his source of 
information. The same statement about the colour of 
the freshly-laid pupa is found verbatim in Kolenati’s 
earlier work (‘Die Parasiten der Chiropteren,’ 1856, 
p- 33), but refers in this case to the Pupipara in general, 
not to Nycteribia in particular. Dufour’s papers are 
quoted (Ann. Se. Nat., 1881 and 1845) ; but these contain 
nothing about the pupa of Nycteribia. 
TRANS. ENT. SOC. 1881.—PART Ill. (SEPT.) 
