POSITION AND TERMINOLOGY OF THE CULICID^ 13 



or, lastly, the coiitiguoas portions of consecutive segments 

 may be lighter or darker, and the middle portion of each 

 of the contrasting tint. 



Another term, frequently recurring in entomological 

 descriptions, especially ni those of earlier date, is to speak of 

 the fore parts of the segments wher6 they are connected with 

 that before them as the incisurcB ahdojiiinis ; and where, as 

 in banded insects, this part of the segments is coloured in 

 contrast, the term " with lighter incisurcB " may be taken 

 as equivalent to " basally lighter banded," and the con- 

 verse ; though often the term is loosely employed, and it 

 is therefore preferable to employ the modern equivalent. 

 At the end of the abdomen we see in the male the claspers 

 {hijpopygium), in the female the oviposito7\ If the claspers 

 have the form of pincers, and are not bent under the belly, 

 they are called forceps. The Ovipositor may be either a 

 borer {terehra) or a style {stylus), or, as in the family with 

 which we are mainly concerned, may take the form of 

 paired, lobular organs, which, though wanting the hook of 

 the male clasper, resemble it closely in general appearance. 



Both organs are very important in the distinction of 

 species in many families, and their structure being generally 

 very complicated and varying much in different families, 

 deserves a most attentive study. 



So far the terms employed are in such universal use 

 among systematists that they may be considered as definite 

 as those employed in human anatomy, but it is when we 

 come to the wn:ig that the confounding of confusion com- 

 mences ; for it may almost be said that the systems of 

 nomenclature are as numerous as the authors who employ 

 them. 



This has come about from the natural desire to devise a 

 terminology applicable to the entire Order, combined with 

 the widest diversity of opinion as to the correspondence of 

 parts in the various families ; so that probably a rigidly 

 immerical system would be really the most convenient, in 

 spite of the names affording no clue to the correspondence 

 of the veins ; but an exclusively numerical nomenclature 

 is, as a matter of fact, adopted by no entomologist who 



