OF WASHINGTON, VOLUME XIV, 1912. 79 



THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE ALEYRODID/E. 



Messrs. A. L. Quaintajice and A. C. Baker presented a 

 paper dealing with the principles of classification of the Aleyro- 

 didae which they had determined as a result of the study of the 

 forms thus far known. A new subfamily was established and 

 several new genera and species described. The paper treats 

 of all known members of the family, except those belonging 

 to Aleyrodes, which will be made the subject of a subsequent 

 publication. The paper in full will be issued in the Technical 

 Series of bulletins of the Bureau of Entomology, United States 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Under the heading "Notes and Exhibition of Specimens," 

 Mr. Knab spoke of the dependence of disease transmission 

 by blood-sucking insects upon habits. This seems to have 

 been overlooked by investigators of this subject and many 

 insects have been suspected which, from the present view- 

 point, must be eliminated. In order to be a potential trans- 

 mitter of human disease an insect must be closely associated 

 with man and normally have opportunity to suck his blood 

 repeatedly. It is not sufficient that occasional specimens 

 bite man, as is the case with forest mosquitoes. Although a 

 person may be bitten by a large number of such mosquitoes, 

 the chances that any of these mosquitoes survive to develop 

 the parasites in question, and then find opportunity to bite 

 and infect another person, are altogether too remote. On 

 this principle Simuliidse and Tabanidse, as well as the numerous 

 sylvan mosquitoes, can be confidently eliminated. More- 

 over, most of these insects are active only during a limited 

 season and consequently there is too great an interval during 

 which no transmission could occur. 



The truth is that all insects that have been found to be 

 transmitters of disease are more or less closely associated 

 with man and habitually suck his blood. This has long been 

 recognized in the case of the two house-mosquitoes of the 

 tropics, the one (Acdes ca/opn*) being the intermediary host 

 of the yellow fever organism, the other ( ( 'tt/c.v quinquefascia- 



