500 



CHAPTER XV. 



The Corethrina Sub-family. 



It is very doubtful if this group of insects can be fairly in- 

 cluded in the same family as the rest of the CulicidcB as the 

 family stands at present ; as although the venation of their 

 vyings and their scaly curvature is typically that of a mosquito, 

 the anatomy of their mouth parts is entirely different, being that 

 of a midge or Tipula ; for they have no proboscis at all com- 

 parable to that of the true mosquitoes, and have in its stead, 

 merely a short rostrum, ending in a pair of rounded knobs. 

 They appear to frequent mostly the open country, and are also 

 found in woods. 



Although they are said to sometimes make their appearance 

 in enormous swarms, they are certainly generally not common 

 insects, as with the sole exception of the solitary female from 

 which I describe Cor. Asiatica, not a single specimen referable 

 to this sub-family was included in the enormous collection 

 received at the British Museum from all parts of the world. 



On this account I have little to add to the information col- 

 lated in the first edition. The palpi are four-jointed, and about 

 the same length in both sexes ; the antennae fourteen-jointed, 

 plumose in the S . and with scanty verticils in the $ . The 

 abdomen is clothed with hairs not scales, and even the scales 

 of the thorax and wing-veins are so long and narrow as to 

 approximate to hairs in form. 



The two genera of this sub-family may be distinguished as 

 follows : — 



First tarsal joint longer than the second Genus XXIII. Corcthra. 



First tarsal joint shorter than the second Genus XXIV. MocJdonyx. 



Genus XXIII. Corethra, Meigen (" S. B." i, 14). 



Gnat-like insects with no true proboscis, but with a short 

 rostrum ending in a pair of rounded knobs. The venation of the 

 wing is as in a typical Cxilex. The abdomen devoid of scales but 

 hairy, and the wings and thorax clothed with long bair-like scales ; 

 first tarsal joint longer than the second. 



