( ci ) 
culiciformis, but plumicornis, Fabr., and in his later work 
when he had discovered his error he gives plwmicornis as his 
type, and states that he had never seen cwliciformis. Moch- 
lonyx was at a much later date proposed for the true culici- 
formis ; but culiciformis was originally named as the type of 
the genus Corethra, and it has therefore been suggested that 
Mochlonyx should sink as a synonym of Corethra, and one of 
our commonest and best known British insects, Corethra 
plumicornis, should have a new generic name. I believe this 
has never been given and it is certainly not necessary when 
the case is understood. This is one instance of the confusion 
arising from an incorrectly named specimen. 
Take another case. In North America, a Longicorn beetle, 
Cyllene pictus, was said to be injurious to two trees, Robinia 
and Hickory. Afterwards Dr. Horn noticed that the speci- 
mens from Robinia were not identical with those from Hickory, 
although the difference was very slight, and he gave the name 
robinie to the species found on Robinia. Unfortunately not 
having seen the type of pictws, he named the wrong one. The 
true pictus of Drury is the species found on Robinia. The 
species found on Hickory is still without a name, unless my 
colleague Mr. Gahan has by this time named it. 
_ I will only mention one other case. Many years ago the 
Cinchona plantations in Java were suffering greatly from 
attacks of a Hemipterous insect, /elopeltis. These were said 
to have been imported with tea plants from Ceylon. With 
the kind help of friends I obtained specimens from the 
Cinchona and also from the tea plants of both Java and Ceylon, 
and found them to be three distinct species, so that the intro- 
duction of the pest with tea plants was shown to be a 
myth. 
It would be easy to multiply instances of this kind, but 
these three are sufficient for my purpose. Two of those I 
have mentioned are not only of scientific interest but also of 
great practical importance. 
Before proceeding to suggest a plan by which we might 
secure the accurate determination of our insects, | must say a 
few words about types. 
The word “type” is used in various ways by zoologists. 
