522 



DIPTERA APHANIPTERA 



CHAP. 



Insects looking as if the upper were the under surface. They 

 are wingless, with a narrow head, which reposes on the back of the 

 thorax. The prothorax appears to be seated on the dorsum of the 

 mesothorax. According to Miiggenburg there is no trace of a 

 ptilinum. A brief note on the metamorphosis l by Baron Osten 

 Sackeii indicates that the mature larva differs from that of 



FIG. 249. Anterior part of the body of Nycteribia sp., found on Xantharpyia straminea, 

 by Colonel Yerbury at Aden. A, Upper surface of female, with head extended ; 

 B, under surface of male, with head extended ; C, claws of a foot. 



Melophagus in the arrangement of the stigmata ; they appear to 

 be dorsal instead of terminal. There are apparently no characters 

 of sufficient importance to justify the association of these 

 Insects with the other divisions of Pupipara ; the sole ground 

 for this connection being the supposed nature of the life-history 

 of the larva. 



Sub-Order Aphaniptera or Siphonaptera (Fleas') 



Fam. Pulicidae. Wingless, with the body latemlly compressed, 



so that the transverse diameter is small, the vertical one great. The 



head indistinctly separated from the body, small, with short thick 



antennae placed in depressions somewhat behind and, above the un- 



facetedeycs. These are always minute, and sometimes wanting. 



1 Tr. cut. Soc. London, 1881, p. 360. 



