1796 Insects. 



of the mouth, and no attempt will be made to draw conclusions 

 therefrom. 



The time spent by the Stylops in the larva state has not been ascer- 

 tained with precision, nor is it very probable that this will ever be the 

 case : but at that period of the year when the bee appears in the 

 imago state, and the presence of the parasite is detected by the pro- 

 trusion of its anal extremity between the segments of her abdomen, 

 the final ecdysis of the larva does not appear to have taken place : 

 supposing, therefore, the larva of the Stylops to have been left in the 

 domicile of the bee in June, and that the bee of the succeeding gene- 

 ration still retains the parasite unchanged, when it emerges in March 

 or April, we find that it has passed ten months in the larva state. 

 The bee itself, commonly undergoes the metamorphotic ecdysis at a 

 much earlier period, and I have on many occasions dug up the pupae 

 of Andrenae as early as August, and the perfect insects in December, 

 indeed so frequently has this been the case, that I incline to suppose 

 that the bee is generally mature and fit for emerging during the whole 

 of the winter, and merely awaits a degree of atmospheric warmth 

 suited to its requirings to burst its cell and make its appearance on 

 the wing. It should here be observed that all infested specimens of 

 bees thus prematurely exhumed, exhibit very distinctly the extremity 

 of the Stylops-larva protruding between the abdominal segments ; 

 and this, it must be observed, clearly establishes the fact that the pa- 

 rasite makes its entrance while the bee is in its larva state, and not as 

 once surmised, after it has arrived at maturity. 



I have already said, that the period spent by the Stylops in the 

 larva state has never been ascertained with precision ; that in the 

 pupa state is also unascertained, but it is certainly very brief; it has 

 only been observed in a few instances, and only in one sex, viz., the 

 male. In the pupa state, the male Stylops has every part of the 

 imago perfectly and distinctly visible ; the antennae, legs, and wings 

 are quite detached from the body, but are enclosed in a delicate 

 transparent pellicle : the hind wings have not acquired their develop- 

 ment, but reach about half the length of the abdomen, and are ap- 

 pressed closely to the sides : the pupa, in every respect, resembles an 

 imago which has died from immersion in spirits prior to the complete 

 expansion of its wings : it is in all respects an imago, but an imago 

 arrested by death before it had taken flight. It will perhaps be said 

 that the pupa here described, differs from that figured and cha- 

 racterized by several entomologists of repute : the truth is, that the 



