370 ON THE ORDERS 



and these closing the column of Mandibulata, it only re- 

 mains to be seen whether the series here terminates, or 

 whether it returns back to the Coleoptera. Several cir- 

 cumstances that have occuri'ed within my own observation, 

 relative to the systematical arrangement of Ants, have, I 

 confess, led me to suspect that there is an approach made 

 by these Hymenoptera towards the Coleoptera. The ab- 

 sence in some ants of the wings, sting, and ocelli, all such 

 remarkable characteristics of the Hymenoptera, has served 

 to strengthen this belief. No one can doubt that a power- 

 ful alteration from the Hymenopterous type has taken place 

 in some of these insects ; and their whole shape, as well as 

 the gradual disappearance of their ocelli, shows that this 

 new tendency is not towards the Tenthredines. How the 

 question may in the end be settled, I know not; but it is 

 very certain that Mr. Kirby, by means of his new order 

 of Strepsiptera, has opened a vast field for speculation, 

 as to the means of connecting the Coleoptera with the 

 Hymenoptera. The true place in nature of the singular 

 genera Xenos and Stylops is indeed very difficult to de- 

 termine; and what remarks, therefore, I am now about 

 to offer on them ought to be received by the reader with 

 great caution, as well because it has hitherto been out of 

 my power to become acquainted with them, except 

 through the medium of the works of Kirby, Latreille, 

 Savigny and Lamarck, as because the total variance in 

 the statements of these authors respecting them demon- 

 strates that their true nature is, as yet, by no means as- 

 certained. 



Professor Peck and Savigny, however, have both most 

 satisfactorily shown that the Strepsiptera are provided with 

 true mandibles and palpigerous maxillae ; and therefore 

 have completely set aside the opinion of MM. Lamarck 



