92 CONNECTICUT GEOL. AND NAT. HIST. SURVEY [Bllll. 



tempt to determine what structures are meant ^A hen the designations 

 harpes or harpagones are used in the descriptions of male Nematocera, 

 so that Edwards' term ch^spettes should be used for these structures 

 (i.e.,*?;; of Fig. 11,A) in male mosquitoes, until the proper ap])lica- 

 tion of the terms harpes and harpagones has been determined for in- 

 sects in general and the Culicidae in particular. 



The basal segment of the genital forceps bears a niesal and lateral 

 apodeme in male mosquitoes, and Matheson (1929), who describes 

 the parts in a typical male mosquito belonging to the genus Aedes^ 

 applies the designation basal plate to the structure labelled hajy in 

 Fig. 11, A, and calls the sclerite labelled pwin^ the *'paramere". Ed- 

 wards (1920) states that the "paramere" corresponds to the "first 

 plate of the unci" of Dyar (1918), and the trigonapophyses of Brole- 

 mann (1919), and to the gonapophyses of de Meijere (1919). 



The above-mentioned applications of the terms parameres and 

 gonapo})h3'ses to structures wholly dilt'erent from those designated as 

 parameres and gonapophyses by other entomologists is deplorably 

 confusing, since no one can be quite sure what structures are meant 

 when these terms are used by different entomologists. It is therefore 

 very strongly urged that the term parameres be restricted to the 

 genital forceps (composed of the basimeres and distimeres) of lower 

 Diptera, in which these structures are homologous Avith the genital 

 forceps, or segmented parameres, of male Hymenoptera, or the un- 

 segmented parameres of male Coleoptera (to which the term para- 

 meres was first applied by Verhoeff) — and the genital forceps labelled 

 cxi and st in Fig. 11, A, of a male mosquito, are the structures homol- 

 ogous with the parameres of other insects, so that the designation 

 parameres should be applied to these structures, alone, in male mos- 

 (Uiitoes as well. 



The term gonapophyses is -s'ery loosely used by entomologists, 

 being applied by them to parts ranging from the valves of the ovi- 

 l)ositor of the female in lower insects (and the sternal processes of 

 female Tipulidae) to the structures flanking the base of the aedeagus 

 in male muscoid Diptera (i. e.. the so-called anterior and posterior 

 gonapophyses, which are also called parameres in male Cyclorrha- 

 pha) ; and the term gonapophyses is therefore a more or less general 

 designation referring to different genital processes. If the term gona- 

 pophyses is used by dipterists, it is suggested that it be restricted to 

 the anterior and posterior gonapophyses ago and pgo of male Cyclor- 

 rhapha (e. g., those shown in Fig. i3,D,E, etc.). although it is also 

 suggested that these structures be called the pregonites and postgon- 

 ites (for the sake of brevity) ; and it is suggested that the structures 

 labelled ^^w/i, ga, etc., in the male mosquito shown in Fie 11, A, be 

 called endomeres, as a purely descriptive designation, since thev are 

 definitely not parameres.* 

 The external sclerotized portion of the genital tube forming the 



* Much more thorough and extensive work must be carried out before a uniform 

 terminology caii be applied to the parts in all male Diptera, and it is to be hoped 

 n nt h, '\t'"''I> I"" l?"^ °^ *^® P""^*^ ^"^ '^^^*^ Diptera in general, now being carried 

 purro '■ fenodgrass, will soon be published to be made available for this 



