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  attendants 
  who 
  followed 
  carried 
  clusters 
  of 
  ripe 
  dates, 
  and 
  flat 
  baskets 
  of 
  osier-work 
  

   filled 
  with 
  pomegranates, 
  apples, 
  and 
  bunches 
  of 
  grapes. 
  They 
  raised 
  in 
  one 
  hand 
  

   small 
  green 
  boughs 
  to 
  drive 
  away 
  the 
  flies. 
  Then 
  came 
  men 
  bearing 
  hares, 
  part- 
  

   ridges, 
  and 
  dried 
  locusts 
  fastened 
  on 
  rods. 
  The 
  locust 
  has 
  ever 
  been 
  an 
  article 
  of 
  food 
  

   in 
  the 
  East, 
  and 
  is 
  still 
  sold 
  in 
  the 
  markets 
  of 
  many 
  towns 
  in 
  Arabia. 
  Being 
  intro- 
  

   duced 
  in 
  this 
  bas-relief 
  amongst 
  the 
  choice 
  delicacies 
  of 
  a 
  banquet, 
  it 
  was 
  probably 
  

   highly 
  prized 
  by 
  the 
  Assyrians." 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Douglas 
  also 
  read 
  the 
  following 
  translation 
  from 
  the 
  ' 
  Entomologische 
  Zeitung' 
  

   for 
  April, 
  of 
  a 
  " 
  Report 
  by 
  Professors 
  Goeppert 
  and 
  Cohn, 
  of 
  a 
  Lecture 
  by 
  Professor 
  

   von 
  Siebold 
  on 
  Strepsiptera, 
  at 
  a 
  meeting 
  of 
  the 
  Silesian 
  ' 
  Gesellschaft 
  fiir 
  vaterl. 
  

   Cultur,' 
  at 
  Breslau, 
  on 
  the 
  9th 
  of 
  February." 
  

  

  " 
  The 
  Strepsiptera 
  form 
  such 
  a 
  remarkable 
  and 
  isolated 
  group 
  of 
  insects, 
  that 
  the 
  

   oldest 
  French 
  and 
  English 
  entomologists, 
  who 
  were 
  the 
  first 
  to 
  draw 
  the 
  attention 
  of 
  

   the 
  naturalist 
  to 
  these 
  exceedingly 
  rare 
  insect-parasites, 
  raised 
  them 
  into 
  a 
  distinct 
  

   Order. 
  In 
  Germany 
  they 
  remained 
  almost 
  entirely 
  unnoticed 
  ; 
  indeed, 
  the 
  ignorance 
  

   of 
  this 
  interesting 
  group 
  was 
  so 
  great, 
  that 
  up 
  to 
  a 
  very 
  late 
  period 
  no 
  account 
  of 
  it 
  

   exists 
  in 
  any 
  German 
  zoological 
  hand-book. 
  The 
  lecturer, 
  at 
  different 
  times, 
  in 
  jour- 
  

   nals 
  and 
  papers 
  of 
  scientific 
  Natural-History 
  Societies, 
  has 
  published 
  his 
  observations 
  

   upon 
  the 
  very 
  singular 
  organization 
  of 
  the 
  Strepsiptera, 
  so 
  different 
  from 
  that 
  of 
  all 
  

   other 
  insects, 
  and 
  upon 
  the 
  history 
  of 
  their 
  wonderful 
  propagation, 
  without 
  having 
  had 
  

   here 
  in 
  Germany 
  these 
  communications 
  completed 
  or 
  extended 
  iiy 
  others 
  ; 
  whilst 
  in 
  

   England, 
  they 
  appear 
  to 
  be 
  peculiarly 
  fortunate 
  in 
  discovering 
  and 
  observing 
  these 
  in- 
  

   sects. 
  Tlirougli 
  the 
  researches 
  of 
  English 
  entomologists, 
  we 
  know 
  up 
  to 
  this 
  time 
  14 
  

   species 
  of 
  Strepsiptera, 
  in 
  5 
  genera 
  ; 
  among 
  which 
  are 
  11 
  European 
  species. 
  In 
  order 
  

   not 
  to 
  repeat 
  what 
  the 
  lecturer 
  published 
  on 
  the 
  Strepsiptera 
  some 
  years 
  since, 
  he 
  re- 
  

   ferred 
  to 
  the 
  last 
  paper 
  on 
  the 
  subject 
  in 
  the 
  Proceedings 
  of 
  the 
  ' 
  Naturforschenden 
  

   Gesellschaft 
  of 
  Danzig,' 
  Bd. 
  iii. 
  Heft 
  0, 
  1839 
  ; 
  later 
  in 
  the 
  ' 
  Entomol. 
  Zeitung,' 
  1843, 
  

   p. 
  113, 
  and 
  in 
  Wiegman's 
  ' 
  Archivs 
  fiir 
  Naturgeschicte,' 
  1843, 
  Bd. 
  i. 
  p. 
  137. 
  Herr 
  

   von 
  Siebold 
  has 
  continued, 
  in 
  Freiburg, 
  the 
  investigations 
  into 
  the 
  Strepsiptera 
  which 
  

   he 
  had 
  commenced 
  in 
  Danzig 
  and 
  Erlangen, 
  where 
  it 
  was 
  easy 
  for 
  him 
  to 
  procure 
  

   his 
  materials 
  : 
  herein 
  Breslau 
  he 
  laboured 
  in 
  vain 
  to 
  obtain 
  Strepsiptera; 
  and 
  none 
  

   of 
  the 
  many 
  able 
  Silesian 
  entomologists 
  could 
  give 
  him 
  an 
  idea 
  where 
  and 
  how 
  to 
  pro- 
  

   cure 
  these 
  insects. 
  Herr 
  von 
  Siebold 
  hopes 
  therefore, 
  after 
  his 
  approaching 
  return 
  to 
  

   South 
  Germany, 
  again 
  to 
  renew 
  his 
  researches, 
  and 
  to 
  be 
  able 
  to 
  complete 
  his 
  Mono- 
  

   graph 
  of 
  the 
  Strepsiptera. 
  The 
  reason 
  why 
  he 
  now 
  speaks 
  about 
  them 
  is, 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  

   last 
  ' 
  Catalogus 
  Coleopterorum 
  Europfe,' 
  published 
  by 
  the 
  Entomological 
  Society 
  of 
  

   Stettin, 
  the 
  Strepsiptera 
  are 
  presented 
  as 
  a 
  family 
  of 
  beetles, 
  under 
  the 
  name 
  of 
  ' 
  Sty- 
  

   lopites.' 
  The 
  Strepsiptera 
  have 
  had 
  the 
  fate 
  to 
  see 
  themselves 
  classified 
  in 
  all 
  the 
  

   hitherto 
  known 
  Orders 
  of 
  insects, 
  by 
  those 
  entomologists 
  who 
  would 
  not 
  acknowledge 
  

   them 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  distinct 
  Order. 
  The 
  first 
  proposition 
  to 
  bring 
  the 
  Strepsiptera 
  among 
  

   the 
  Coleoptera, 
  was 
  put 
  forth 
  by 
  Burmeister 
  (in 
  his 
  ' 
  Handbuch 
  der 
  Naturgeschichte,' 
  

   1837, 
  p. 
  643), 
  without 
  giving 
  any 
  further 
  reason 
  for 
  his 
  supposition 
  that 
  they 
  should 
  

   occupy 
  their 
  natural 
  position 
  among 
  the 
  family 
  Mordellidoe 
  : 
  he 
  was 
  merely 
  led 
  thereto 
  

   by 
  the 
  idea 
  that 
  the 
  larvae 
  of 
  Strepsiptera 
  are 
  parasites 
  on 
  bees, 
  and 
  the 
  larvae 
  of 
  Sym- 
  

   bius 
  and 
  Rhipiphorus, 
  belonging 
  to 
  the 
  Mordellidse, 
  also 
  live 
  as 
  parasites, 
  the 
  former 
  

   on 
  Blatta, 
  the 
  latter 
  on 
  Vespa. 
  This 
  view 
  of 
  Burmeister 
  has 
  recently 
  been 
  supported 
  

  

  