insects included in this division, some
authorities considering that they should be referred to a distinct
order, while others would group them in the family _Meloidae_ just
described. While from the nature of their life-history there is no
doubt that they have a rather close relationship to the _Meloidae_,
their structure is so remarkable that it seems advisable to regard
them as at least a distinct tribe of Coleoptera.

They may be comprised in a single family, the _Stylopidae_. The males
are very small, free-flying insects with the prothorax, mesothorax and
elytra greatly reduced, the latter appearing as little, twisted
strips, while the metathorax is relatively large, with its wings broad
and capable of longitudinal folding. The feelers are branched and the
jaws vestigial. The female is a segmented, worm-like creature,
spending her whole life within the body of the bee, wasp or bug on
which she is parasitic. One end of her body protrudes from between two
of the abdominal segments of the host; it has been a subject of
dispute whether this protruded end is the head or the tail, but there
can be little doubt that it is the latter. While thus carried about by
the host-insect, the female is fertilized by the free-flying male, and
gives birth to a number of tiny triungulin larvae. The chief points in
the life-history of _Stylops_ and _Xenos_, which are parasitic on
certain bees (_Andrena_) and wasps (_Polistes_), have been
investigated by K. T. E. von Siebold (1843) and N. Nassonov (1892).
The little triungulins escape on to the body of the bee or wasp; then
those that are to survive must leave their host for a non-parasitized
insect. Clinging to her hairs they are carried to the nest, where they
bore into the body of a bee or wasp larva, and after a moult become
soft-skinned legless maggots. The growth of the parasitic larva does
not stop the development of the host-larva, and when the latter
pupates and assumes the winged form, the stylopid, which has completed
its transformation, is carried to the outer world. The presence of a
_Stylops_ causes derangement in the body of its host, and can be
recognized by various external signs. Other genera of the family are
parasitic on Hemiptera--bugs and frog-hoppers--but nothing is known as
to the details of their life-history.

LAMELLICORNIA.--This is a very well-marked tribe of beetles,
characterized by the