SAMOUELLE S 



" Upon this insect I discovered, last spring, a very 

 singular animal, which seems appropriated to the 

 present genus. I had previously more than once ob- 

 served upon other species something that I took to be 

 a kind of Acarus, which appeared to be immoveably 

 fixed just at the inosculations of the dorsal segments 

 of the abdomen : at length, finding three or four 

 upon a specimen of M. nigro-cenea, I determined not 

 to lose that opportunity of taking one off to examine 

 and describe; but what was my astonishment when 

 upon my attempting to disengage it with a pin, I drew 

 forth from the body of the Melitta a white, fleshy 

 larva a quarter of an inch in length ; the head of 

 which I had mistaken for an Acarus. 



" After I had examined one specimen 1 attempted 

 to extract a second, and the reader may imagine how 

 greatly my astonishment was increased, when after I 

 had drawn it out a little way, I saw its skin burst, 

 and a head as black as ink, with large staring eyes 

 and antennae consisting of two branches, break forth, 

 and move itself briskly from side to side. It looked 

 like a little imp of darkness just emerging from the 

 infernal regions. My eagerness to set free from its 

 confinement this extraordinary animal may be easily 

 conjectured. Indeed I was impatient to become bet- 

 ter acquainted with so singular a creature. When it 

 w r as completely disengaged, and I had secured it 

 from making its escape, I set myself to examine it as 

 accurately as possible ; and I found, after a careful 

 inquiry, that I had not only got a non-descript, but 

 also an insect of a new genus, whose very class 

 seemed dubious." Kirby. 



