﻿118 [October 



NOTICE OP A NEW ORDER OF HEXAPOD INSECTS. 

 BY PBOEESSOB, J. O. WESTWOOD, M.A., F.L.S. 



In the course of last year, Mr. H. Denny placed in my hands for 

 examination a parasitic insect, found upon the beaver, which seems at 

 first sight half-way between a flattened flea and a diminutive cockroach, 

 and which has proved to belong to none of the recognized Orders of 

 hexapod Annulosa. I read a description of this insect, under the name 

 of Platypsyllus castorinus, before the Ashmolean Society of Oxford, 

 during Michaelmas Term, 1868 ; but, as that Society is very dilatory in 

 publishing its Proceedings, I send a short notice of the characters of 

 the insect for publication in ' The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine.' 



Order, ACHKEIOPTEEA, Westwood. 

 Corpus ovale, valde depressum, coriaceum, setigerum. 

 Os (mandibulis ?) maxillis, labio palpisque quatuor instructum. 

 Antenna? laterales, postice rejlexw, tri-articulatce, articulo ultimo (ut in 



Pulice) annulato. 

 Prothorax magnus, scutiformis, margine postico sinuato. 

 Mesoihoracis scutellum triangulare. 

 Ales anticce coriace<s, planed, venis carentes, breves, coalitce, basin abdominis 



attingentes ; sutura recta. 

 Alee posticce obsolete. 

 Pedes cursorii {saltatorii .?) , tibiis calcaratis, tarsis quinque-articidatis, 



bi-unguiculatis. 

 Metamorphoses ignotae. 

 Victus parasiticus in Gastorem, more Pulicis. 



platypsyllus, nov. gen. 



Caput horizontale, semi-circulare, angulis posticis sub-truncatis, antennis 

 truncatura, insertis. 



Antennae longitudine dimidium prothoracis sequantes, articulo basali 

 elongato, cylindrico, secundo cyathiformi, extus longe setoso, 

 tertio ovali, ex annulis octo (ut in Pulice) formato. 



Maxilla? motu transverso, lobis duobus apicalibus instructs, externo 

 majori, semi-ovali, piano, apice spinuloso, extusque dense setigero, 

 interno tenuissimo, membranaceo, margine sub-spinuloso. Palpi 

 maxillares quadri-articulati, articulo ultimo conico. 



Mentum oblongum, corneum, jugulo transverso antice insidens. 



Labium transversum, lateribus in angulum productis, margine antico 



