4880 Notices of New Books. 



genus Stylops, which several distinguished entomologists of the pre- 

 sent day agree in placing among the Heteromerous parasitic beetles. 

 These insects were placed in a new order by Mr. Kirby, named Strep- 

 siptera, and as such they are still regarded by many entomologists; 

 We have at present only to do with them as enemies to the bees, and 

 briefly to narrate the manner in which the latter are attacked by them. 

 These insects are diminutive in size, the largest known species not 

 exceeding a quarter of an inch in length ; we are now speaking of the 

 winged males ; the females are apterous grub-like insects, which never 

 leave the bodies of the bees. If the abdomens of a number of Andre- 

 nidae be examined, it is most probable that the female of Stylops will 

 be found ; her presence is known by the protrusion of her head and a 

 portion of the thorax between the abdominal segments on their supe- 

 rior surface, resembling the point of a small bud of a brown colour, 

 or rather a flattened scale. I have several times bred the larvae of 

 Stylops in the following manner : on finding a bee infested as 

 described, place her in a box 5 or 6 inches square, cover it with 

 gauze, and supply the bee with fresh flowers, such as the Andrenidae 

 frequent; examine the bee every day, and it is most likely that in 

 eight or ten days she will appear as if her abdomen was covered with 

 dust ; examine it, and in all probability she will be found to be covered 

 with an innumerable quantity of exceedingly minute animals; these 

 are the larvae of Stylops ; by the aid of a magnifying-glass they may 

 be seen to issue from the transverse aperture on the thorax : when the 

 bee re-enters the cell, or settles upon flowers, these diminutive creatures 

 will of course occasionally be deposited, and by these means, when 

 other bees visit the flowers, they attach themselves to them and are 

 carried to their nests. Judging from the multitude of larvae pro- 

 duced by each female Stylops, amounting to many hundreds in each 

 case, and the rarity of the perfect insect, the majority must perish, 

 probably in the larval condition. From the fact of seldom more than 

 two Stylops being found to infest the same bee, we may suppose that 

 to be the largest number which infests one larva of an Andrena; they 

 undergo their changes in the body of the bee, the male on its final 

 transformation becoming an active winged insect, the female remain- 

 ing a mere apod, attached for life to the bee which nourished it. A 

 most complete and interesting summary of the observations of ento- 

 mologists on these parasites will be found in the twentieth volume of 

 the 'Transactions of the Linnean Society,' by Mr. George Newport, 

 who has in this paper entered most minutely into the anatomy, func- 

 tions and development of these remarkable parasites, being the most 

 interesting and complete essay on the subject yet written. 



