THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 201 
that this “hyper-metamorphosis” is the normal mode of 
insect. metamorphosis, and that the changes of these insects, 
made beneath the skin of the mature larva before assuming 
the pupa state, are almost as remarkable, though less easily 
observed, as those of Meloé and Sitaris. Several other 
beetles allied to Meloé are known to be parasitic on wild 
bees, though the accounts of them are fragmentary. 
The history of Stylops, a beetle allied to Meloé, is no less 
strange than that of Meloé, and is in some respects still more 
interesting. On June 18th I captured an Andrena vicina 
(figured on p. 397 of the first volume of the NaruraList) 
which had been “stylopized”. On looking at my capture I 
saw a pale reddish-brown triangular mark on the bee’s abdo- 
men; this was the flattened head and thorax of a female Sty- 
lops (Plate 4, fig. 12, position of the female of Stylops, seen 
in profile in the abdomen of the bee; Fig. 13, the female 
Seen from above. The head and thorax is soldered into a 
single flattened mass, the baggy hind-body being greatly 
enlarged like that of the gravid female of the white ant, 
Termes, and consisting of nine segments). 
On carefully drawing out the whole body which is very 
extensible, soft, and baggy, and examining it under a high 
Power of the microscope, we saw multitudes, at least several 
hundred, of very minute larve (Plate 5, fig. 6, as seen from 
above, and showing the alimentary canal ending in a blind 
Sac; Fig, 6 a, side view), like particles of dust to the naked 
eye, issuing in every direction from the body of the parent 
how torn open in places, though most of them made their exit 
through an opening on the under side of the head-thorax. 
The Stylops, being hatched out while still in the body of 
the parent, is therefore viviparous. She probably never lays 
eggs, 
‘On the last of April, when the Mezereon was in blossom, 
I caught the singular-looking male, Stzlops Childrent Gray 
(Plate 4, fig. 14; a, side view; it is about one-fourth of an 
uch long), which was as unlike its partner as possible. I 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. II. 26 
