Sept., I9I4-] Crampton : Misuse of Terms. 255 



In his paper on the " Thorax of the Hymenoptera," Snodgrass, 

 'lOb, introduces a new synonym for the hypopteron hyp (fig. 2), 

 designating it as the " prepectus," and giving as his reason for so 

 doing, that in the Hymenoptera, he thinks that this sclerite is a new 

 formation, not homologous with the " preepisternum " described in 

 his previous papers. In his own words (Snodgrass, 'lOt,, page 78) 

 ..." though the prepectus has something the appearance of the 

 preepisternum of the more generahzed orders of insects, especially if 

 we assume a continuity between the prepectus and the presternum, 

 yet the phylogentic gap between them is too great to permit the 

 homologizing of one with the other. The prepectus of the Hymenop- 

 tera appears to be a purely secondary production within this order." 



Now, as we have seen, Snodgrass confused the homologies of the 

 sclerites which he designated as the " preepisternum," applying this 

 term to totally different sclerites in different insects. Under these 

 conditions, it is very natural that some of these incorrectly designated 

 sclerites which he terms the "preepisternum" (such for example, as 

 the plate Iplj of fig. 2, of the present paper — which he terms the 

 '' preepisternum " in his figure 94, of the earwig) are not homologous 

 with the sclerites which he terms the prepectus, in his Hymenop- 

 teron paper (/. e., the sclerite hyp, fig. 2). The sclerite which Snod- 

 grass, '0%, terms preepisternum, in his figure 70 of the grasshopper 

 Dissosfeira, however, is most assuredly the homologue of the " pre- 

 pectus " of his Hymenopteron paper. Furthermore, the author of the 

 term preepisternum (Hopkins, '09) applied it to a sclerite of Dcn- 

 droctonus, homologous with the sclerites designated as the prepectus 

 m Snodgrass's Hymenopteron paper. The terms preepisternum and 

 prepectus are therefore synonymous, and both are synonyms of the 

 designation hypopterton, applied to the sclerite hyp (fig. 3) by 

 Audouin, '20. 



Jordan, '02, terms the sclerite hyp, the '" peristernum," in his 

 figures of the grasshopper Acridium and the beetle Mcloe. Enslin, 

 '12, terms it the " praesternum " in his figure of the sawfly Tomos- 

 tehiis, apparently not realizing that the term presternum is used to 

 designate a sclerite of the sternal region. 



From the foregoing discussion, it is apparent that the only logical 

 course of procedure is to retain the designation hypopteron, for the 

 sclerite hyp (fig. 3) as originally used by its author Audouin, '20. 



