60 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST, SUEVEY [Bull. 



Osten-Sacken (1896) and Meade (1897) object to the application of 

 the term tegidae to the calypteres on the grounds that the term teguhi 

 implies concealment, whereas the distal calypter does not conceal the 

 halter, and even the proximal (or lower) one does not conceal the lial- 

 ter in such Diptera as the Tabanidae, etc. The real objection to Loew's 

 application of the term tegulae to the calypteres of the Diptera is 

 that the term tegula has always been applied to a totally ditferent 

 structure in other insects, namely the shell-like structure in the antero- 

 basal region of the fore wing oi the Hymenoptera, Lepidoptera, etc., 

 ever since it was first introduced by Kirby and Spence (1826, Vol. 3, 

 p. 377) ; and this term should therefore "be applied only to the cor- 

 responding structure in the Diptera — namely to the structure labelled 

 f<j in Fig. 7, 1. 



The suggestion of Sharp (1897), who has proposed that the lower 

 calypter be called a "calyptron" (incidentally, the Greek word calyp- 

 tra, meaning a veil, hood, or head-covering, is itself a singular noun, 

 and is therefore not a pleural form of "calyptron'*) '"when it acts as a 

 covering for the halter," while it should be called a squama when it 

 does not act as a covering for the halter, is quite inadmissible from 

 the stand])uint of comparative morphology. A morphological term 

 is a designation, not a description (although it may well be both), 

 and it would lead to a needless multiplicity of terms if homologous 

 structures were called by different names ever}" time they happen to 

 vary in size, or with respect to the angle at which they are borne on 

 the body, and other non-esseutial features, so that Sharp's suggestion 

 has little to recommend it. 



The designation calypteres is the pleural form of the Greek noun 

 calypter, meaning a sheath, which is listed in Smith's ''Glossary of Eu • 

 tomology," but this was apparently not known to Osten-Sacken (1896), 

 who refers to the terms calyptra of Haliday (1836), calyptcra of 

 Eondani, and calypta of Eobineau-Desvoidy (1873. Hist, des Dipt. d. 

 Env. de Paris, I, p. 77) and quotes Desvoidy's derivation of the term 

 calypta in a passage which ma}^ be roughly translated as follows: 'T 

 retain for this double structure (i. e., the calypteres) the French name 

 cuillerons (cuilleron signifies the bowl of a spoon), but I translate it 

 into Latin by the word calypta, from calypto, I cover, while I desig- 

 nate the two scales which compose it, by the terms squama superior 

 and squama inferior." Desvoidy thus apparently calls the calypteres 

 the "calypta" when they are taken together, but refers to them as 

 squamae when they are considered separateh^ For the sake of uni- 

 formity, however, it is preferable to use only the designations calypter 

 and calypteres for the lobes bcl and del of Fig. 7, 1, and this usage has 

 everything to recommend it, with none of the disadvantages involved 

 in the usage of many of the other terms applied to these structures. 

 The term calypter (or calypteres) is one of recognized standing (see 

 Smith, 1906), and has long been used by Coquillett and other dip- 

 terists. It is extremeh' appropriate for referring to the distinguish- 

 ing characters of the calypterate Cyclorrhapha : and since it has never 

 been applied to any structures other than the calypteres of the Dip- 

 tera, there is no possibilit}" of confusion when it is used for these struc- 

 tures. 



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