THE ANOPHELINA SUB-FAMILY 281 



posing themselves with the head pointing at the surface on 

 which they are resting, and the abdomen elevated. 



Speaking generally, the gnats of this group are of moderate 

 size, but one or two are a good deal above the average dimen- 

 sions of the family. 



Possibly a third genus may have to be constituted for the 

 reception of An. ocellatiis, Theobald, on account of the dense 

 tufts of peculiarly formed scales which fringe the posterior 

 borders of the segments of the venter. 



Genus III. ANOPHELES, Meigen (1818). 



From an etiological point of view, the importance of this 

 genus has been in no way impaired by the researches of the past 

 year, as the number of proved cases in which its members have 

 been convicted of serving as the intermediate host of the parasite 

 of human malaria has steadily increased, and it has been further 

 shown, by Capt. James, I. M.S., and also by Grassi and Noe, to 

 bear a share in the transmission of filariasis. 



In the first edition thirty species of this genus were 

 enumerated. Of these the notorious An. claviger (Fabr.), re- 

 appears as An. maoulipennis , Meig. ; a name previously given as 

 a synonym, as it appears doubtful if the insect referred to by 

 Fabricius existed as a type in his collection. An. alhitarsis, 

 Arribd,!., turns out to be but a synonym of the much less appro- 

 priately named An. argyrotarsis, Desv. ; An. imisivus, Skuse, 

 one of An. annidipes, Walker ; and An. quadrimaculatus, Say, is 

 the same as An. maculipennis , Meig. Of the rest. An. "up. b." 

 mihi, for which the name ^^ nigerrimus " was suggested; An. 

 annularis, Wulp, with An. vanus, Walker ; An. pseudopictus, 

 Grassi, and probably An. pictus, Loew, are, I am inclined to 

 think, nothing more than synonyms of An, Sinensis, Wied. ; as, 

 though Mr. Theobald accords them the dignity of ranking as sub- 

 species, they run so much into each other if any considerable 

 series of specimens be examined, that the characters that separate 

 them barely exceed the limits of variation, if at all. As Grassi's 

 jyseudopictus was treated as a synonym of Loew's pictus, this 

 leaves twenty-four species, whose position at present remains 

 unshaken. At the time of Mr. Theobald's monograph going to 

 the press, fourteen new species had been received in the Museum 

 and described by him, and I have found three more, quite 

 distinct from these, in my own collection, which with one added 

 description, the type of which has not been received, and three 



