STRATIOMID^E STREPSIPTERA. 



727 



boscis porrected, elbowed near 'the base, and very 

 slender, its point being advanced in repose as well as 

 in action ; the antennae obtuse at the tips, with a 

 terminal seta, hairy above ; abdomen four-jointed, 

 with the balancers covered by a double alulet. These 

 are small flies which frequent the windows of our 

 apartments in damp summer or autumn weather, 

 greatly resembling the common house-fly, but being 

 of a rather broader shape, and at once distinguished 

 by the porrected proboscis, with which they inflict 

 severe wounds, especially upon our legs, which they 

 seem to prefer, their proboscis penetrating through 

 our clothes without difficulty. They are also found 

 in the fields or woods ; and from the circumstance of 

 their being most abundant in autumn, it has been a 

 common saying amongst persons not aware of the 

 difference of species, that the house-flies sting in the 

 autumn. The type of the genus (of which there are 

 several species), is the Conops calcitram of Linnaeus. 

 Other species are named, St. stimulant, irritant, and 

 pungens, from their irritating powers. 



STRATIOMID^E (Le^ach). A family of di- 

 pterous insects, belonging to the division Brachocera, 

 Macquart (see DIPTERA), having the antennae appa- 

 rently three-jointed; but the third joint, on examin- 

 ation, is found to consist, exclusive of the terminal 

 style or bristle, of five articulations ; this style or 

 bristle is found in nearly all the species. The wings 

 are laid upon each other in a horizontal position 

 when at rest, with a small central cell from which 

 several indistinct nerves radiate to the posterior mar- 

 gin of the wing ; the scutellum is often spiried, the 

 legs simple, and the rostrum small. These are gene- 

 rally inactive flies, found in damp situations, but 

 occasionally handsomely variegated in their colours. 

 The genera are Stratiomys, Odontomyia, Ephippium, 

 Oxycera, Nemotelus, Chrysochlora, Sargus, and Packi/- 

 gaster (Vappo, Latreille), together with several others 

 recently described by M. Macquart in the Suites a 

 Buffon. The typical genus Stratiomys is distinguished 

 by having the antennae much longer than the head, 

 the basal jxjint long, and the terminal joints forming 

 a fusiform mass ; the front of the head is not produced 

 into a rostrum, the antennas inserted on the forehead, 

 and the scutellum spined. 



Figures representing the transformations of Stra- 

 tiomy's Chamceleon will be found in the article INSECT 

 (vol. ii., p. 840, figs. 38, 39, 40), fig. 38 representing 

 the larva, in which the three terminal segments of 

 the body are much elongated and very slender, and 

 terminated by a considerable number of feathered 

 filaments arranged in a star. The head is small, 

 oblong, and scaly, with a number of minute curved 

 hooks and other instruments, which serve to create a 

 disturbance in the water in which these larvae reside. 

 Respiration is effected in this larva by rising to the 

 surface of the water head downwards, its star-like 

 apparatus at the extremity of the body being ex- 

 tended to the surface, and having the effect of repel- 

 ling the fluid. In this manner the insect remains 

 suspended for a certain time, an orifice situated at the 

 base of the filaments giving passage to the entrance 

 of the air ; but when it is desirous of descending it 

 has the power of bringing the extremity of these fila- 

 ments together, enclosing at the same time a bubble 

 of air which it carries down to the bottom for its 

 future use, and which appears like a globule of liquid 

 silver. This larva does not shed its skin, but the 

 pupa state is assumed within this covering, which 



becomes hard and rigid, the tail often, but accidentally, 

 being at an angle with the rest of the body. They 

 now float on the surface of the water, the pupa occu- 

 pying one extremity of the old envelope, out of 

 which the perfect insect makes its escape by making 

 a slit at the second segment ; it then stations itself 

 for a short time on its old case, its body hardens, and 

 it attains a full perfection. There are six British 

 species of this genus. 



The characters and habits of the Sargus are given 

 in the article upon that genus ; the other genera do not 

 present any characters of interest suited for a work 

 like the present. The British species of this family 

 are described by Mr. Duncan in a recent number of 

 the Magazine of Zoology and Botany. 



STRATIOTIS (Linnaeus). A genus of only one 

 species, viz., S. aliodes, a native of Britain, found in 

 ditches. It belongs to the natural aquatic order Hy- 

 drocharidaceas. 



STRAVADIUM (Jussieu). A genus of tropical 

 ornamental trees, named Eugenia by Linnieus, and 

 Barringtonia by Roxburgh. They are natives of 

 Malaya ; the flowers are monadelphous, and belong 

 to the natural order Myrtaceae. Our imported plants 

 thrive in rich loam and moor-earth, and are propa- 

 gated by cuttings. 



STRELITZIA (Hort. Kewensis). A fine genus 

 of herbaceous perennials, natives of South Africa, 

 belonging to the natural order Musacece. The . 

 augusta is a favourite stove plant, and also flowers in 

 the greenhouse with good management. It is in- 

 creased by suckers, and sometimes by seeds. 



STREPSIPTERA(Kirby;RHipiPTKRA, Latreille; 

 RHIPIDOPTERA, Lamarck). An order of winged 

 insects established by Mr. Kirby for the reception of 

 a few insects of the most singular form and remark- 

 able habits. The name of the order is derived from 

 the Greek, and is in allusion to curious appendages 

 of small size which at first were regarded as attached 

 to the fore legs, and consequently as these legs are 

 prothoracic, and true fore wings are mesothoracic, 

 it was considered by Latreille that the former could 

 not be analogous to wings, and accordingly that 

 Mr. Kirby 's name of the order was inappropriate, in 

 lieu of which the name Rhipiptera was proposed in 

 allusion to the fan-like form of the real wings, which 

 are very large ; in shape like the quadrant of a circle, 

 and furnished with a few longitudinal nerves arranged 

 like the ribs of a fan. Subsequent discoveries have, 

 however, proved that the small twisted organs are 

 in reality mesothoracic, and consequently as truly 

 representations of the fore wings of butterflies, &c., 

 as the elytra of beetles ; in some of which latter 

 (Atractocerut, Sitarut, &c.), these organs are nearly 

 as much reduced in size as the pseudelytra of the 

 Strepsiptera. The head of these insects is transverse 

 with large exposed eyes placed on footstalks, divided 

 into a small number of facets ; the mouth is of a 

 singular character, there being scarcely any appear- 

 ance of aperture ; there are also two slender and 

 pointed organs inserted widely apart, but crossing 

 each other, and a pair of large two-jointed palpi ; the 

 antennae are very extraordinary in their forms, being 

 generally furnished with an internal branch nearly as 

 long as the antenna itself; the prothorax and meso- 

 thorax are very short, forming only two narrow rings, 

 to each of which on the underside a pair of legs is 

 attached ; the mesothorax is very greatly developed 

 and divided by several oblique sutures ; the legs are 



