]^g G. C. Ckampton and AV. H. Hasey, 



(Fig. 11) is merelj' the mesothoracic meron imited with the lower 

 portion of the mesothoracic epimeron, and is therefore neither meta- 

 thoracic, nor sternal. On this account, the term meropleurite 

 (Ceampton, 1914) has been here retained for the region in question, 

 to indicate that it is the meron together with a portion of the 

 pleuron (lower portion of the epimeron). 



As may be seen from the foregoing discussion, the meron has 

 been intrepreted in the most varied and astonishing fashion in 

 different insects, by different entomologists, and various designations 

 from the "pesella' (applied to the meral spur in the metathorax of 

 the Cicadas, me, of Fig. 12) of Kieby & Spence, 1828, to the meron 

 of Walton, 1900, have been applied to it. Walton terms the 

 anterior region of the coxa, vc, the "coxa genuina", but it is pre- 

 ferable to designate it by a single term such as eucoxa or vera- 

 coxa (Ceampton, 1914), and to term the meron the "merocoxa", if it 

 is desirable to indicate that it is a portion of the coxa. 



Walton's idea that the meron represents the vestigeal leg of 

 a second subsegment entering into the composition of the meso- or 

 metathorax is, of course, purely fanciful, since there is no evidence, 

 embryological or otherwise, that each segment is composed of two 

 fused subsegments; and Banks' theory that the styli, borne on the 

 meso- and metathoracic coxae of such insects as Machilis, represent 

 the vestigeal legs of a second subsegment, belongs in the same 

 category. 



Kieby & Spence, 1826 — 1828, Vol. 3, p. 579 confuse the posterior 

 coxae of Dytiscus, with the metasternum. It would appear that they 

 have taken this idea from De Geee, since the footnote to p. 579, 

 in which they refer to "De Geee iv. t. iv. f. 3. dd. ee." apparently 

 has reference to this usage by De Geer, although the work in 

 question is not accessible to us for determining this point. 



As was mentioned above, Packaed, 1898, terms the metathoracic 

 coxa of the grasshopper, the "trochanter". It is doubtful, however, 

 that in so doing he was influenced by the fact that in the pro- 

 thorax of Tipula (tab. 122) Westwood, 1832, applies the term 

 "trochanter" to the coxa. It would appear that Westwood did not 

 appreciate the true nature of the trochanter, since he applies this 

 term to the veracoxa in the mesothorax of Tipula and Telea (tab. 122 

 and 121). 



Langée, 1860, regards the trochanter as an "epiphysis" of the 

 femur, and Geestaeckee suggested that in the Hymenoptera Ditrocha, 



