46 BULLETIN 66, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Saunders (1850) states that the presence of eggs has never "been 

 detected in any vermiform strepsipterous insect obtained from a bee 

 or wasp not taken at large." In 1852 Saunders records having placed 

 a Prosopis rubicola Saunders bearing a female which had just trans- 

 formed with a male Hylecliihrus rubi Saunders on June 25, and that 

 the male took no notice of the female. On the 26th the experiment 

 was tried with other males without result. On the 27th it was placed 

 with a male which had just quitted its pupa case, the latter imme- 

 diately settling "upon the abdomen of the bee, quivering his expanded 

 wings, while recurving the abdomen considerably in the direction of 

 his secluded partner, and returning on several occasions to repeat the 

 process." Sagemehl (1882) took a male stylops in copulation on 

 Andrena parvula Kirby. 



When Mr. Crawford collected the unique male of Crawfordia pul- 

 vinipes Pierce he did so by accident. He had just bottled a Panur- 

 ginus which was new to him, and on looking at it in the tube he noticed 

 a commotion on the abdomen. The male parasite was attached to 

 the female in the bee's body. It was in an erect position, with the 

 head pointing forward. This would indicate that the abdomen was 

 doubled forward. Fertilization was probably effected by the release 

 of the semina in the brood chamber or in the alimentary canal. 



The most recent work on the subject has added an interesting 

 observation on this point. Muir, in speaking of the activity of males 

 of Elenchoides perkinsi Pierce {Elenchus tenuicornis Muir not Kirby), 

 writes : 



If the hopper bears a mature female parasite, the male settles about half an inch 

 away and crawls toward the hopper, vibrating its wings all the time. This generally 

 disturbs the hopper and it moves off, the Elenchus following till it gets a chance to 

 spring upon its back and attach itself to the female. This action disturbs the hopper 

 and it flicks its abdomen to shake off the parasite. * * * I have never seen the 

 male Elenchus retain its hold of the female for more than six seconds; generally it is 

 attached only two or three seconds. I am unable to say if fecundation takes place 

 during this time, or exactly how copulation takes place; evidently the tip of the 

 abdomen is inserted into the brood chamber. 



OOGENESIS. 



This subject has been handled very ably and to considerable length 

 by Brues (1903), and it is therefore only necessary to quote his 

 summary : 



Oogenesis is peculiar and does not resemble that of other insects. Very small larvae 

 show strings of spherical primitive eggs on each side of the gut. These grow and 

 later break up, giving rise to eggs, each of which consists of a mass of nurse cells 

 bearing a polar cap of cells derived from a primitive egg attached to it. Yolk is formed 

 from the contents of each egg, and when ripe the eggs are scattered about all through 

 the body cavity and lie embedded in the fat body. Maturation seems to occur through 

 the fusion of the second polar body with the pronucleus of the egg. All of the cleav- 

 age cells when formed go to make up the blastoderm, which does not cover the whole 



