593 
NOTES ON NYCTERIBIIDAE, WITH DESCRIPTIONS 
OF TWO NEW GENERA. 
By HUGH SCOTT, M.A., F.L.S., F.E.S., 
Curator in Entomology, University of Cambridge. 
(With Plate XXIV.) 
This paper is written primarily with the intention of publishing 
descriptions of two new genera of Nycteribiidae, together with some 
notes relating to certain already known forms of that family. But 
it also includes an account of some recent work (not my own), 
which for the first time gives us a detailed insight into the habits of 
these bizarre creatures. This latter side of the subject will be con¬ 
sidered first. 
A. BIOLOGICAL SECTION. 
The summary of recent biological observations may be prefaced 
with some more general remarks. 
Nycteribiidae are a family of highly modified and quite wingless 
Diptera, classed in the probably polyphyletic group “Diptera Pupi- 
para.” The components of this difier widely inter se, but all possess 
in common the characteristic of retaining the young within the body 
of the parent till larval life is practically completed, and of then giving 
birth to the matured larva, which almost immediately commences its 
transition into the pupal stage. Nycteribiidae, as well as another 
family of Pupipara, the Strebhdae, are external parasites found ex¬ 
clusively on bats. 
Geographical Distribution. Only a brief allusion will be made 
to this subject. Speiser tabulated the distribution of all known forms 
(1901, pp. 62-3^), and discussed the question further in two interesting 
later papers (1907, 1908^). His statements have necessarily been some¬ 
what modified by subsequent findings, and our knowledge needs sum- 
^ References thus given are to the list at the end of the paper. 
