282 G.NATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER XII 



additional forms received while passing through the press, brings 

 the total number of species enumerated in the present edition up 

 to forty-six. 



Besides these, several sub-species and varieties are described 

 in the monograph, some of which appear to be fairly distinct, 

 so that the total number of forms described in the present 

 edition exceeds hfty. 



The question as to whether a given form is x-eally a distinct 

 species or a mere variety, can only be settled by careful breeding 

 out experiments, as nothing can fairly be considered a variety 

 unless it can be shown that the eggs laid by a female produce 

 some of the typical, and others of the variant individuals, and 

 it is needless to say that we have no information of this kind 

 whereby to settle the position of the various types of Anophelctes 

 described in the following pages. 



On this account, the question whether some of those enume- 

 rated are or are not distinct, or sub-species, or varieties, is really 

 one of a purely academical character, to which a far too great 

 importance is sometimes attached, as for practical purposes it 

 suffices if workers are supplied with convenient denominations 

 whereby they can indicate the particular kind of insect to which 

 their observations refer. 



In the following pages accordingly, descriptions of all the 

 various forms, whether ranked as species or varieties, are in- 

 cluded, and the peculiarities of each are, with but one or two 

 exceptions, further indicated by means of camera lucida drawings 

 of the wings and other characteristic portions of the insects. 

 With the exception of figures of scales and tarsal claws, and 

 other obviously much more highly magnified representations, all 

 these figures are drawn at a uniform amplification of ten times 

 the natural size, so that in measuring, centimetres may be read 

 as millimetres ; though of course it must be understood that as 

 Mosquitoes vary greatly in size in the same species, they can 

 only be taken to refer to the actual specimen from which the 

 particular figure was drawn. 



This gives the great advantage of affording some idea of the 

 relative size of the various species, but has resulted in some few 

 of the smallest species being shown on a rather inconveniently 

 small scale. As, however, the figures were originally drawn more 

 than three times as large as they now appear, the use of a hand 

 lens will be found to obviate this difficulty. The following is 

 the amended definition of the genus according to tlie new 

 classificaUou. 



