Sept., I9I4-] Crampton : Misuse of Terms. 249 



In its Gallicized form " paraptere," the term was first used by 

 Audouin, '24. In his figures of the thoracic sclerites of Dytiscus (the 

 only insect used to illustrate his paper) Audouin clearly and unmis- 

 takably designates as the "paraptere," the sclerite labelled !i\p in 

 fi&- 3 (of the present paper). Audouin, '24 (page 420) likewise 

 describes the " paraptere " as a sclerite which " unites dorsally with 

 the episternum and epimeron to form a support for the wings and 

 tergum " — a description which applies to the sclerite hvp (fig. 3) 

 alone, as can be seen by glancing at his figure of Dytiscus' mesothorax. 



On page 122, Auduin, '24, states that in his previous publicaitons 

 he had designated the sclerite in question (which "is always sup- 

 ported by the episternum, and sometimes prolonged ventrally along 

 the anterior margin of the latter") as the " Jiypopfere." Having ex- 

 tended his studies, however, and having found that in other insects, 

 there exist certain plates which he considers as representing these 

 plates although they are not situated below the wing (and may some- 

 times even " pass in front of the wing and take up a position above 

 the base of the latter " — ;'. c, may occupy the position of the sclerite 

 tg, figs. 2 and 6), Audouin states that he now prefers to change the 

 term hypo-pteron (i. c, " under-the-wing ") to para-pteron (i. e., 

 '■ near-the-wing "'), in order to signify its changing position in relation 

 to the wing base. In other words, he erroneously considers that cer- 

 tain sclerites above the base of the wing (i. c, the tegulse, tg, figs. 2 

 and 6) are homologous with the hypopteron {hyp, of figs. 2 and 3), 

 and includes them all under the general designation parapteron. 



Audouin's own words on the subject are as follows (Audouin, '24, 

 page 122) as translated by Snodgrass, '10^ (foot-note to pages 20 and 

 21) ... "finally there exists a piece but little developed and seldom 

 observed, connected with both the episternum and the wing. It is 

 always supported by the episternum and is sometimes prolonged ven- 

 trally along its anterior margin, or again, becoming free, passes in 

 front of the wing and may even come to lie above the base of the 

 latter. At first we designated this sclerite by the name of hypopteron, 

 but on account of its change of position relative to the wing base, wo 

 now prefer the name of parapteron." And again (Audouin, "24, page 

 420) . . . '■ the episternum, the parapteron and the epimeron all fuse 

 dorsally and constitute a support for the wings and tergum." 



It is clearly evident that this reference to a sclerite which is 



