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CHAPTER XXI. 
THE STYLOPID/E. 
This family contains a few species whicli have been 
placed by various authors in the JLjmenopicra, Coleop- 
tera, and Diptera, and even considered by some as 
allied to the Hemiptera, Orthoptera, and Lepidoptera ; 
their structure is so degraded that they have lost all 
resemblance to the other members of the Coleoptera, 
and the extremely minute development of their pro- 
thorax seems at first to be much against their location 
in that order; from the period of their discovery until 
within the last few years, they were considered by 
many authorities as a special order Strepsiptera, but 
are now usually regarded as abnormal members of the 
Coleoptera, although Professor Westwood is still of 
opinion that they should be kept separate ; the species 
are parasitic, in their eai-ly stages, in the bodies of va- 
rious bees and wasps, the footless larva, when full grown, 
protruding its head between the abdominal segments of 
these insects, and appearing, at first sight, like a flat- 
tened Acarus ; foreign genera have been discovered, 
which infest ants and Homoptera ; they may be 
characterized as follows : — Male free, with very small 
and collai’-like prothorax and mesothorax, small 
twisted fore wings, and a large metathorax bearing 
T 
