of the Strepsiptera. 57 



have been observed on the larvae of the Strepsiptera neither by 

 King nor by Von Siebold (see Wiegmann's ' Archiv,' 1843, 

 p. 154); and even Newport has not demonstrated them, but 

 rather expresses himself very cautiously on the subject. He 

 says (Trans. Linn. Soc. xx. p. 345), "In the larvae there ap- 

 peared to be eight pairs of bag-shaped dark bodies at the sides 

 of the abdominal segments, situated in the place of the respira- 

 tory organs of other insects. From their darkened appearance 

 and from their resemblance to branchial sacs, they may perhaps 

 be regarded as imperfect respiratory organs of the nature of 

 branchiae." And such a conjectural statement as this, which is 

 not even remotely put forward as a fact, and appears to apply 

 not to the definitive larva, but to its first stage, is to be taken as 

 " demonstrative " of the affinity of the Strepsiptera to the Neu- 

 roptera. No stress can be laid upon the free elongated anterior 

 and middle coxae in a case in which, as here, we have to deal 

 with the orders of insects. Thus the only remaining arguments 

 for the affinity of the Strepsiptera to the Phryganidae, and their 

 consequent position among the Neuroptera, are that the buccal 

 organs are rudimentary, and the prothorax is formed as in the 

 Phryganidae. A rudimentary condition of the buccal organs, with 

 which an amalgamation of the different parts is always associ- 

 ated, does not of itself form any relationship. The buccal 

 organs are aborted in certain genera of all orders of insects, and 

 indeed in such as take no nourishment in the imago state, as 

 in Ephemera among the Orthoptera, in the Henopii among the 

 Diptera, and in many Bombycidae among the Lepidoptera. The 

 rudimentary state of the buccal organs is therefore no argu- 

 ment against the position of the Strepsiptera among the Coleo- 

 ptera; they are Beetles with rudimentary buccal organs, just 

 as the Phryganidae are Neuroptera with rudimentary buccal 

 organs, if, indeed, from the nature of the anterior wings the 

 Strepsiptera are Beetles, and the Phryganidae Neuroptera. 



" The Strepsiptera agree with the Phryganidae in the structure 

 of the prothorax, which never occurs in the Coleoptera." Ac- 

 cording to the diagnoses of the Phryganidae (p. 75) and the 

 Strepsiptera (p. 78), this structure consists in the prothorax 

 being short and annular. A prothorax is annular when it con- 

 sists of a single ring, and is not divided into a notum and a 

 sternum. But a prothorax of this kind, forming only a simple 

 ring, occurs among Beetles throughout the division Rhyncho- 

 phora. On the other hand, it is by no means settled, and 

 indeed cannot be settled from dried specimens, that the very 

 slightly developed prothorax of the Strepsiptera does not consist 

 of a notum and a sternum. The only thing that remains, 

 therefore, is that the prothorax is short in the Phryganidae and 



