4o8 Records of the Indian Mitseum. [Vol,. IV, 



cardboard discs should be abolished and neath' cut blocks of pith 

 be substituted.' 



The authors' suggestion (p. 17) to ignore the legitimate claims 

 of priority, cannot, of course, be sustained. One feature of this 

 work is that the descriptions are drawn up without reference to 

 sex, appljdng presumabl}^ to both, except where, here and there, 

 a character is noted as present in one sex only. 



It is extraordinary how specialists in mosquitoes continue to 

 wrongl}^ name the veins, and especially what they call "cross- 

 veins." 



In James and Liston's work, the longitudinal veins are cor- 

 rectly designated, but they speak of the short basal section of the 

 2nd longitudinal vein (before it takes its longitudinal course) as a 

 cross-vein (the " marginal"). It is nothing of the sort, the mar- 

 ginal cross-vein not being present in the Culicidae at all : and in 

 those families in which it does occur it is always in the distal half 

 of the wing. 



Again, James and Liston's '' supernumerary cross vein" is 

 merely the basal section of the 3rd longitudinal vein, and cer- 

 tainly not a cross-vein at all. 



Their '' mid cross-vein" may be thus called though '' anterior " 

 cross-vein is the more correct term ; and the posterior cross-vein 

 they have happily correctly recognized. 



The subcostal cross-vein of James and Liston is not this 

 vein at all, but the humeral cross-vein, the subcostal cross-vein not 

 being present in the Culicidae, and in those families in which it 

 does occur it joins the auxiliary and ist longitudinal veins. There 

 are only three cross- veins in Culicidae — the humeral, anterior 

 and posterior. 



In speaking of the cells, James and Liston say that the " areas 

 enclosed between these branches " {i.e., of the forked longitudinal 

 veins, the 2nd and 4th) '' have received names " (mentioning only 

 the 1st submarginal, 2nd posterior and " anal " cells) but continue 

 by cheerfully ignoring all the other cells as ' ' for our present pur- 

 pose they need not be mentioned " ! 



Moreover, they are wrong again in their '• anal " cell, which 

 is really the '' 4th posterior " cell. The anal cell is always behind 

 or posterior to the 5th longitudinal vein, or the hinder branch of 

 it when this vein is forked. 



Perhaps Theobald is most to blame for these errors, as being 

 the pioneer of a false terminology. This author's " supernumerary 

 cross-vein" is merely the basal section of the 3rd longitudinal 

 vein. He also figures the somewhat similar section of the 2nd 

 longitudinal vein as a cross- vein, but gives it no title, either in 



1 The method I adopt for mounting all very small Diptera is to thrust the 

 minute pin through the right side of the thorax, immediately below the dorsum, 

 at such an angle that the point emerges from the left side immediately above or 

 between the legs. It is then possible to view the greater part of both the dorsal 

 and side surfaces without removing the specimen from the cabinet. 



