152 ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [April, '07 



few tangible characters are available for generic subdivision in 

 the Culicidae, and the bulk of the species must remain in a 

 few large genera, regardless of the details of ornamentation. 

 The well-marked divisions which are indicated by the larval 

 characters and the male genitalia, and which coincide for both, 

 are certainly fundamental. I will give only a few examples to 

 illustrate how the application of Theobald's system of classifi- 

 cation works out in practice. 



The genus Verrallina was erected by Theobald in 1903 

 (Monogr. Culic., Vol. Ill, p. 295) for "Aedes" butleri and 

 niger from the East Indies, and associated with them appar- 

 ently from want of a better place Aedes nigricarpus from the 

 Amazons. In 1905 it would seem Theobald was no longer 

 able to recognize his genus and the same three species, in 

 Genera Insectorum, fasc. 26, p. 35, follow Aedes under the 

 heading "genus uncertain' no mention of Verrallina. In 

 1906 Verrallina reappears in Coquillett's classification (U. S. 

 Dept. Agric., Bureau Ent., Tech. Ser. No. u, p. 17), and is 

 applied to two new forms from tropical America ; the Aedes 

 nigricarpus is assigned, again with a doubt, to the new genus 

 Isostomyia. 



In the Canadian Entomologist, Vol. xxxvii, 1905, p. 231, 

 Miss Ludlow describes Taeniorhynckus sierrensis, and in a later 

 paper (1. c., Vol. xxxviii, 1906, p. 132) she acknowledges that 

 her species is synonymous with Culex varipalpics Coquillett. 

 However, a further study of its scale-characters convinced her 

 that the species cannot be correctly placed in Taeniorhynckus t 

 or in any of the numerous genera already recorded from North 

 America and, without locating it generically, she associates it 

 with Finlaya. Mr. Coquillett has recently placed the species 

 in Ochlerotatus , which position agrees very well with the views 

 arrived at by Dr. Dyar and the writer. 



Again, what a carry-all the genus Stegomyia has been for 

 species of all kinds that happen to have a similar thoracic 

 ornamentation. It would lead altogether too far to point out 

 the kaleidoscopic changes that this genus has undergone. 



Perhaps the most striking example of the composite nature 

 of the Theobaldian genera is furnished by his genus Afaiisonia. 



