520 



DIPTERA 



condition of the stigmata in the later instars of certain other 

 Dipterous larvae. The Melophaffus-larfa is nourished by secre- 

 tion from certain glands of the mother-iiy ; this is swallowed 

 and the stomach is greatly distended by this milky fluid. 

 Probably it was this condition that induced Dufour to suppose 

 the larva to be only an embryo. 



Some of the Hippoboscidae that live on birds take to the 

 wing with great readiness, and it is probable that these bird- 

 parasites will prove more numerous than is at present suspected. 

 We may here notice an animal recently descriljed liy Dr. 

 Adensamer and called Ascodipteron} He treats it as the female 

 imago of a Pupiparous Dipteron. It was found buried in the 

 skin of the wing of a bat of the genus Phyllorhina, in the 

 Dutch East Indies, only one individual being known. It is 

 entirely unsegmented, and externally without head. If Dr. 

 Adensamer should prove to be correct in his surmise the creature 

 can scarcely be inferior in interest to the Strepsiptera. 



Fam. 41. Braulidae. — This consists only of a minute Insect 

 that lives on bees. The antennae are somewhat like those of 



the sheep-tick, though 

 they are not so com- 

 pletely concealed in 

 the cavities in which 

 they are inserted. Ac- 

 cording to ilticfCTen- 

 burg " a ptilinum 

 exists, and he is also 

 of opinion that al- 

 though the parts of 

 the mouth differ very 

 much from those of 

 Hippoboscidae they 

 are essentially similar. Lucas says that Braula specially affects 

 the thorax of the bee: Mliggenburg, that it is fond of the 

 queen-bee because of the exposed membranes between the body- 

 segments that exist in that sex. Whether this Insect is truly 

 Pupiparous is unknown, though Boise states that a pupa is 

 deposited in the cell of the bee by the side of the young larva of 



1 SB. Ak. men. cv. 1896, Abtheil. i. p. 400. 

 - Arch. Naturges. Iviii. i. 1892, p. 287. 



Fig. 247. — Braula, coeca. 



(After Meinert. ) 



