Insects, 1 799 



consult the larva for comparison. The class Hymenoptera divides 

 readily into the following minor groups : — 



Phyllophaga, of which the larva feeds on leaves : ex. 

 Tenthredo. 



Xylophaga, of which the larva feeds on wood : ex. Sir ex. 



Cecidophaga, of which the larva feeds on galls : ex. Cynips. 



Ekucophaga, of which the larva feeds on the interior of other 

 larvae : ex. Ichneumon. 



Entomophaga, of which the larva feeds on insects provided 

 by the parent : ex. Sphex. 



Pantophaga, of which the larva feeds on almost every kind of 

 animal or vegetable food provided by the parent : ex. 

 Vespa. 



Anthophaga, of which the larva feeds on the honey and pol- 

 len of flowers provided by the parent : ex. Apis. 

 In all these groups the larvae are perfectly well known : in the first 

 they are long, cylindrical caterpillars, with six legs, and ten or twelve 

 prehensile abdominal organs that serve the same purpose : in the se- 

 cond, they are large white cylindrical maggots, with six short legs, 

 just sufficient to enable them to move in the passages they have made 

 in the wood on which they feed : in the remaining five, the larvae are 

 apod, obese maggots : in none has any metamorphotic character been 

 detected, and in none is there any, even the slightest structural resem- 

 blance to the foetal larva of Stylops. There exists, however, a consi- 

 derable analogy in economy between the metamorphotic larva of 

 Stylops when metamorphosed and the ametabolous larva of Ichneu- 

 mon; the principal difference between the two being the fixedness of 

 the former, and the freedom of the latter, while immersed in the bow- 

 els of their respective prey : it must certainly be admitted, that in 

 their economy at this period there is great similarity ; and this simi- 

 larity has induced authors to question whether Stylops might not be 

 included among the erucophagous Hymenoptera : but such a conclu- 

 sion, on grounds so slender, is altogether inadmissible ; a parity of 

 reasoning would transfer Tenthredo to the Lepidoptera, and Sirex to 

 the macroceratous Coleoptera : all that can be made of the fact 

 in question is this, that, in one point of its economy, and at one 

 period of its existence, the larva of Stvlops resembles that of 

 Ichneumon. 



We now turn to the Coleoptera, divided into seven groups by the 

 structure and economy of the larva, but named from a parallel 



