OR BEE-PARASITES. 153 



so that their principal business after emerging from 

 their cells consists in the diffusion of the very crea- 

 tures which have rendered them sterile. 



We have already seen what was the opinion of 

 Latreille as to the difficulty of placing these singular 

 little parasites in a suitable position in the system of 

 Insects, and indeed considering the imperfect acquaint- 

 ance with their habits possessed by entomologists, 

 almost down to the present day, we need not be 

 much surprised at the great variety of situations 

 assigned to them by different writers. They have, 

 however, generally been regarded as forming a distinct 

 and independent order of insects, which was con- 

 sidered by some as nearly allied to the Hymenoptera, 

 on account of their parasitism ; by others as related 

 to the Diptera; and by Latreille and Westwood as 

 approaching most closely to the Lepidoptera, between 

 which and the Diptera they were placed by the former, 

 whilst the latter considered them as intermediate 

 between the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera. Kirby, 

 in his original account of the discovery of Stylops 

 Melitt(K, stating that from its parasitic habits it should 

 be placed near the Ichneumons, whilst from its struc- 

 ture (probably the fan-like folding of the wings) he is 

 inclined to arrange it provisionally amongst the Or- 

 thoptera, at the same time refers to the presence of 

 elytra as indicating an alliance with the Beetles, but 

 dismisses this notion from an impression that the 

 habits of Stylops were incompatible with its coleo- 

 pterous nature. Singularly enough, however, the 

 more complete knowledge that we now possess of the 

 mode of life of the Strepsipterous parasites has only 

 tended to place their near affinity to the Coleoptera 

 in a stronger light, for if we compare the general 



H 5 



