218 



INTRODUCTION. 



rather than with Nassonoff, who says that the " cephalothorax " of 

 the young is shown by the nervous system to be the anterior 

 extremity. The whole question is as yet a very obscure one. 

 The males of these perfect insects are very short-lived, the life 

 of the male of Xenos lasting for about twenty minutes, while 

 that of Stylops may be continued for two, or at most three, days. 



The position of the group is very uncertain. If its members 

 are to be regarded as Coleoptera they must certainly be placed at 

 the end of the Order as abnormal, but there is very strong ground 

 for separating them off as an Order by themselves, as proposed 

 long ago by Westwood, whose view has been followed by Von 

 Siebold and recently by Nassonoff. It must be allowed that they 

 have several points in common with the Coleopterous genus 

 Meloe, but, as regards the mouth-organs, they have been compared 

 with the Diptera and Lepidoptera. Westwood (' Modern Classi- 

 fication of Insects,' ii, p. 290) regards the mouth-organs as 

 analogous to those of certain Lepidoptera, and, after referring to 

 Newman's belief that the Stylopid.i: are closely allied to the 

 Diptera, proceeds as follows : — "I cannot, however, find the least 

 analog}' between the oral organization of the Strepsiptera and the 

 tubularly developed elbowed mouth of the Diptera, the labrum of 

 which is greatly elongated : whereas, on the contrary, there seems 

 to me much greater resemblance, in this respect, between the 

 Strepsiptera and Lepidoptera, the labrum in both being soldered 

 flatly to the head, the acute mandibles, as they have been termed 

 in Stylojps, being exactly represented, in some of the Linnsean 

 Bombyces, by the short rudimental maxilla?, and the large ar- 

 ticulated appendages being much more analogous to the labial 

 palpi of the Lepidoptera than to the maxillary palpi of the 

 Diptera." 



Taking all points into consideration, it is very doubtful whether 

 we can regard the Stylopidje as belonging to any existing order, 

 in which case they are best regarded as separate under the old 

 name Strepsiptera. 



