1901.] 43 



sexes ; and Diplosis, iiiuler FF, as having half the luunber of joints 

 in the female : " feuiinfi nuinero circiter duplo miuori articulis inascu- 

 lorum." I have searched in vain for auy reference to Meigeu's 

 KlassificatioD (1804) iii Eondaui'a works, and I am inclined to believe 

 that he never possessed, nor consulted, that now rather rare volume.* 



It is so many years since I have given up the study of Cecidomi/lcE, 

 that it would be impossible for me to propose now any improvement 

 in the present nomenclature of the Family. I would only venture to 

 suggest that the concept Cecydomyia, Meigen-Latreille, in its main 

 features, was a very natural and useful generic concept, and should 

 have been preserved, es{)ecially in view of the mnemonic requirements 

 of classification. On this subject, and on the mischief of unneces- 

 sarily multiplying genera, I have expressed my opinion in the Berl. 

 Eut. Z., 1895, p. 160, at bottom, where I have said, "The true end of 

 classification is an easier survey of affinities, a temporary aid to 

 memory. In space and time all divisions become convergent and 

 finally coufiuent." What I would propose now would be to restore, as 

 far as possible, the original concept of Cecidomyiu of Meigen and 

 Latrcille, and to consider tlie very numerous new genera, since formed 

 at its expense, as subgenera. 



MM. Karsch and Eiibsaamen have done so much useful work 

 since their beginnings, that 1 hope they will not take in bad part the 

 publication of a criticism which I have kept in petto for thirty years. 

 Heidolbcrg : January, 1901. 



ABEEDEENSHIRE DIPTERA. 

 BY TUE REV. E. N. BLOOMPIELD, M.A., F.E.S. 



Mr. J. Mearns, of Aberdeen, has kindly sent me for confirmation 

 or determination the greater part of his collection of Dq)tera ; among 

 them are some very interesting species, I therefore now give a 

 selection from them. 



In the "Scottish Naturalist " for July, 1883, there is a good list 

 by Mr. W. Armston Vice, M.B., of JDiptera taken by himself in the 

 north of Scotland, principally near Aberdeen, and also a few taken by 

 Mr. Vcrrall in 1870 near Aberdeen, and at Braemar. 



Most of Mr. Mearns' species are the same as are contained in 

 this list, but there are a good number of additions, some very common 



* The bookseller Hoepli, in Milan, pnvohasod Rondani'.s library after his death, and I then 

 acquired .several works which belonged to it, among others the complete collection of Rondani's 

 liand-copieK of his own publications. Of this collection I liave made a present to the Italian 

 Entomological Society in Florence. I do not reniember noticing Meigon's Klassification (1S04) in 

 Hoepli's Catalogue at that time. 



