136 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



with man, speaks for their power of adapting themselves to new and 

 varied conditions. They are cunning, wary, and easily alarmed, and, 

 except when benumbed with cold or heavy with eggs, know well how to 

 avoid danger. They appear to me far more clever in this respect than 

 the bees and wasps." 



My article in the Can. Ent. was written before I saw the above 

 quoted passages in Lowne's work. In his first edition of the anatomy of 

 the blow-fly (1870), Lowne does not advance any ideas with regard to 

 the systematic position of the Diptera. 



The real credit for the original discovery and correct interpretation of 

 the extreme specialization of the Diptera belongs to Weismann, who pub- 

 lished a paper upon the development of the Muscidae,* in 1864. Later, 

 in 1876, Ganin sustained in the main the investigations of Weismann. 

 Lowne first presented these views in English, at least in the Old Country, 

 while Hyatt and Arms were the first to call attention to them in America. 



The consensus of facts bears out the statement that the Diptera are 

 the most highly specialized, and therefore the most highly organized order 

 of insects. While they possess ancient as well as recent forms, they have, 

 in the muscid families, reached a higher plane of development than any 

 group in any other order. It is by no means contended that the Nemo- 

 cerous Diptera are as highly organized as some groups in other orders, 

 since they comprise the most ancient living forms of Diptera. 



The Diptera probably find their culmination in the Tachinidse, and of 

 this family doubtless the Phasiidse stand first. Tric/iopoda, Phasia, and 

 Hyalomyia may therefore be considered as probably representing the 

 highest forms of insect life. 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



The next annual meeting of the Royal Society of Canada will be held 

 in the City of Ottawa, on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of May. The Society 

 will be represented by Mr. Hague Harrington, our Vice-President. We 

 notice by the programme that Mr. Harrington is to read a paper on 

 Canadian Urocerida?, a subject to which he has given much attention. 



*Uie nachembryonale Entwicklung der Musciden nach Beobachtungen an Musca 

 vomitoria und Sarcophaga carnaria. Zeit. f. Wiss. Zool, XIV., 187 (1864). 



Mailed May 18th. 



