REVISION OF STEEPSIPTERA PIERCE. 3 



to him that they belonged together and constituted the nucleus of a 

 new order. 



Kirby's decision was not to be received by even the majority for 

 many years and is still rejected by many good authorities. Indeed, 

 two authors writing in the same period seldom placed the group in 

 the same place. It was given two distinct ordinal names — Strepsip- 

 tera and Rhipiptera (also spelled Rhiphiptera) ; it was placed in the 

 Diptera as Rhipidoptera, and Phthiromyia?, in the Neuroptera as 

 Stylopidse near the Phryganeidse, in Hymenoptera near Ichneumon, 

 but most generally in the Coleoptera as Stylopidse at the end of the 

 Heteromera. Westwood placed them between Hymenoptera and 

 Lepidoptera; Hoeven placed them between Suctoria and Diptera; 

 Menzel referred them to the Diptera (M tiller, 1872). 



A casual analysis of the placing of the order will reveal the fact that 

 the careful systematists of the Continent soon recognized the ordinal 

 nature of the Strepsiptera and have consistently maintained their 

 views, while, on the other hand, the biologists and systematists of 

 England and America have until recently classified the group as 

 Stylopidse, coleopterous. It may be said now, however, that the 

 majority of American entomologists consider these insects as meriting 

 full ordinal distinction. Six recent articles on the phylogeny and 

 classification of Insecta, byHandlirsch (1903, 1904), Klapalek (1904), 

 Boerner (1904), Sharp (1899), and Shipley (1904), place the Strep- 

 siptera as an independent order, although all place it next to Coleop- 

 tera, Handlirsch holding it to be an offshot during the Tertiary age. 

 In this article it is intended to summarize all of the arguments used on 

 both sides and to show how the balance stands. 



The three most recent classifications of the Coleoptera, by Lameere 

 (1900), Kolbe (1901), and Ganglbauer (1903), are not unanimous 

 with regard to the placing of the Strepsiptera. Lameere incorporated 

 the group as a subfamily Stylopinas in the family Melandryidse, while 

 Kolbe and Ganglbauer excluded the group entirely from the order. 

 Lameere, later, in an answer to Ganglbauer, does not defend his pla- 

 cing of these insects, so it may be concluded that the opinion of these 

 three authors is unanimous. 



The writer in personal correspondence and conversation finds a 

 great diversity of opinion. H. F. Friese, of Germany, and R. C. L. 

 Perkins, of Hawaii, both experienced in the study of the group, incline 

 toward retaining them in the Coleoptera. Dr. Filippo Silvestri, of 

 Italy, who is a student of the Rhipiphoridse, thinks them related to 

 these beetles. Charles T. Brues, of Milwaukee, finds more evidence 

 for separating them than for placing them with the Coleoptera. 

 Charles Dury, of Cincinnati, desires to consider them Coleoptera, as 

 a matter of sentiment. E. A. Schwarz, the coleopterist, considers 

 the group a distinct order, and so did the late W. H. Ashmead, hymen- 



