314 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. 



[Jan 



manner of its derivation is understood, because the general- 

 ized Hyinenoptera, the saw-flies, have mouth parts sufficiently 

 like the orthopterous type to make the hoinologies apparent, 

 and because there are among the various Hymeuopterous in- 

 sects conditions of mouth parts gradatory from saw-fly to 

 honey bee. 



Now among the Diptera we search for the generalized mouth 

 among the presumably generalized flies, the Nematocera.* 

 And among all the Nematocera perhaps none has a mouth 

 which is more generalized, i. e., more nearly in the condition 

 of the typical biting mouth, than Blepharocera. The fernal es of 

 Blepharocera, like the females of Simulium, Ceratopogon, Dixa, 

 Culex and some other Nematocera, are . blood-sucking, and, 



FIG 4. Blepharocera capita/a Loew, mouth parts ; Ib. ej>., labrum epi- 

 pliarynx; m.v., maxilla; m.r. p., maxillary palpus; md , mandible; 

 hyp , hypopharynx ; /;' , labium. 



while the mouth parts of these forms are not strictly bitiug 

 the mandibles are present, as cutting or sawing or piercing 

 organs. The males of these forms are nectar- feeding and have 

 lost the mandibles. In the mouth parts of the female 7>Y''/>//- 

 arocera all of the parts of the typical biting mouth are pres- 

 ent, the mandibles, maxillte and labium. The mandibles 



* For an account of the mouth parts of all the Nematocerous 

 families see Kellogg, " The Mouth parts of Nematoeerous Diptera," 

 Psyche, Vol. viii, Nos. 273, 275, 276, 277, 278. 



