sJOTJ JxK JLX^ 



OF THE 



llieui '^orh Entomological ^ocijctg. 



Edited by Harrison G. Dyar. 



Publishes articles relating to any class of the subkingdom Arthropoda, subject 

 to the acceptance of the Publication Committee. Original communications in this 

 field are solicited. 



Book Notice. 



A monograph of the Culicidcv of the World. By F. V. Theobald: 

 London, 1907. Volume IV. 



After an interval of four years, Mr. Theobald appears with a fourth 

 volume of 600 pages of his mosquito monograph, based on material 

 received since 1903. It might have been supposed that during this 

 interval the author would have learned something from the numerous 

 criticisms that have been directed against his earlier volumes ; but not 

 so. In this book he continues his excessive subdivisions, his absurd 

 classification, and even his nomenclatorial blunders that so marred 

 the first volumes. Mr. Theobald is not a trained naturalist, so we are 

 told, and it now appears that he is incapable of learning. He insists 

 that his additional material only confirms his divisions on scale char- 

 acters. Naturally it does so from his point of view. He can no 

 doubt place his specimens to his own satisfaction on these characters, 

 since this is the only criterion he has. But does this prove anything? 

 Can anyone else use the characters and come out the same way ? Do 

 they correspond to a natural system ? Do they agree with characters 

 founded on other structures ? Are they confirmed by larval characters ? 

 We answer, no. Rightly viewed, the scale characters are of specific 



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