76 
I copy the following from the ‘Quarterly Journal of Science’ 
(vol. i. p. 515) : “Professor Wagner found, in June, 1861, under the 
bark of a dead elm, some whitish apodal worms, which proved to be 
the larve of insects. Each larva was filled with smaller larvae, at first 
supposed to be parasitic; but the smaller larva were found, upon 
closer examination, to be identical, even to the smallest details, with 
the enveloping larve, by which identity Professor Wagner was led to 
assume that the included larve represented a second generation pro- 
duced by the enveloping larva. This would be a case of alternation 
of generation, even more surprising than that of the Aphides.” 
The Strepsiptera, or rather the Stylopide, after being settled com- 
fortably, apparently, among the Coleoptera, have again had the ques- 
tion of their location raised by Dr. Gerstaecker.* He places them with 
the Neuroptera, principally for the following reasons:—1, the rudi- 
mentary buccal organs; 2, the elongated free anterior and middle 
coxe ; 3, the radiate venation of the posterior wings; 4, the short and 
annular prothorax; and 5, the branchiform respiratory organs in the 
larve. But the existence of the last is more than doubtful. Dr. Schaum 
answers these reasons in a paper in Wiegman’s ‘ Archives,’ t just as 
before he answered Von Siebold’s objections. The reasons advanced 
for considering them as Coleoptera are—l, the coriaceous veinless 
anterior wings; 2, the striking resemblance between their early (hexa- 
pod) larve and those of Meloé; and 3, the perfect metamorphosis. 
It may be remarked that these hexapod larve (in the second stage 
they are apodal) have a singular resemblance to the Thysanura, which 
are by some also considered to be Neuropterous, and it is worthy of 
notice that the larva of Xenos Rossii{ (1am not aware if it is the case 
with others) is saltatorial, just as the Thysanura are saltatorial. 
One of the signs of the times is the number of new works, mostly 
periodicals, some of them newspapers, devoted entirely or in part to 
Natural History, and in which Entomology figures to a very con- 
siderable extent. These, as might be expected, are intended for the 
many, and they, no doubt, encourage as well as create a taste for 
Science. But it is to be regretted that the writers are too often 
incapable of recognizing what is obsolete or exploded, or have only 
the knowledge which a rapid glance over an old volume might afford. 
Thus one of these authorities informs us that “the genus Papilio of 
* In the ‘ Handbuch der Zoologie.’ 
+ A translation will be found in the ‘Annals and Magazine of Natural History’ 
for January, 1865, p. 53. 
+ §. 8. Saunders, Trans. Ent. Soc. N.S. ii. p. 125. 
