472 MR. F. W. UIIIOH ANT) DR. II. SCOTT ON THE 



are of quite special interest, as tliey are (so far as the writer 

 knows) the first insect hyperpai-asites of any kind recoi-ded from 

 Nycteribiidte *. The J^JujJelm'us belongs to a group some members 

 of which are parasitic on scale-insects (Coccidae), and it is 

 remarkable that the puparia of the Cydo'podia themselves bear 

 a very strong superficial I'eseniblance to certain scale-insects 

 which are pai'asitised by other forms of Eapehnus. 



As regards the bionomics of the Cydoj^odia, Mr. Ui'ich"s obser- 

 vations confirm certain of those of Rodhain and Bequaei-t. He 

 mentions the agility of the movements of the parasites, when 

 disturbed, on the bodies of their hosts — a fact which has been 

 noted also concerning other species of Nycteribiidse. These 

 insects are, as stated above, " pupiparous," i. e. the females give 

 birth to full-fed larvse, the integument of which immediatel}' 

 hardens and darkens to form the pnparium. It appears that 

 some species of Nj-cteribiidae attach their laivag to the bodies of 

 their hosts (see Scott, ' Parasitology,' t. c. p. 598), but in 

 Cydopodia greeffi this is not the case. The females of this 

 species attach their larvae to parts of the trees in which the bats 

 have their sleeping-places. Rodhain and Bequaert made their 

 observations on bats in captivity, and the majority of the 

 iSTyctei-ibiid larvae were fixed to the undersides of wooden perches 

 in the cages : these authors think that in a wild state the larvae 

 are probably attached to the smooth trunks or branches of 

 Draccena-tveefi, which are the favourite sleeping-places of the 

 bats near Leopoldville. In San Thome Mr. Urich found the 

 puparia fixed to the upper and lower surfaces of the sm.ooth 

 leaves of certain dicotyledonous trees (name not stated) in which 

 the bats slept. 



Rodhain and Bequaert describe how the female Ci/dopodice 

 with the undersides of their bodies press their larvae down on to 

 the substratum, to which the larva firmly adheres. It imme- 

 diately assumes the shape of, and hardens and darkens to form, 

 the puparium. This is a half-ellipsoidal bod}^, with elliptic 

 contour, rather nai-rower behind, convex dorsally and quite flat 

 ventrally, where it is "glued" to the svibstratum. Its dorsal 

 and ventral siirfaces are separated by an angular margin. The 

 dorsal surface becomes uniformly black, and the resemblance of 

 the puparium to a black scale-insect (such as Saissetia olece) is at 

 first sight very gi'eat, though with closer examination traces of 

 segmentation and the position of the two pairs of larval spiracles 

 are discernible. The puparium is figured by Rodhain and 

 Bequaert, op. cit. p. 258. 



The flat ventral surface of the puparium remains colourless 

 and transparent, and if pupae are detached from their substratum 

 various phases in the development of the enclosed nymph can be 



* As regards other oraanisms hyperparasitic on Nycterihiida>, tlie latter some- 

 times bear on their hotlies Laboiilbeniaceous fungi : see Spei?er. Arcli. Naturg. 67. 

 i. 1901. p. 29; Scott. Arch. Naturg. 79. A. 1913, Heft 8, p. 96 (1914\ and Ann. 

 Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) xiv. p. 234 (1914). 



