198 'PSYCHODID.f;. 



of the male with three pairs of append- 

 aj^'es ; ovipositor of female without a 



horny scimitar-.shaped pair of valves. . . . Phlebotominae, p. 199. 

 The 7tli longitudinal vein conspicuously ])re- 

 sent. The 2nd longitudinal forks quite 

 near the base of the wing- ; always before 

 the first fourth of the wing's length. 

 Prongs of upper branch always fork before 

 middle of wing. Genitalia of the male 

 with two or three pairs of appendages ; 

 ovipositor of female consisting of a con- 

 spicuous horny scimitar-shaped, projecting 

 appendage, forming a pair of valves .... Psychodinae, p. 217. 



Four genera are recognised here in tlie Psyciiodix.e, Psychoda 

 and Pericorna, which never possess conspicuously scaled wings and 

 consincuous choetee together in the same species ; * and Bnmettia 

 and Parabrunettia, in which both scaled wiugs and tolerably or 

 very conspicuous ch setae on the flagellar joints of the antennae are 

 simultaneously present. I am still much in doubt, however, as 

 to the limits of both these latter genera. 



Eaton's genera are, to my thinking, untenable,t yet the group 

 of species with thickly scaled, broad wings, generally with hairs 

 closely covering the surface also, and with distinct choetae on the 

 flagelium, seems a well-defined one ; all of these possess the vena- 

 tion of PsjfcJwda except superstes, which, being the first species 

 ■described, must remain the genotype of Bnmettia. 



In the present state of our knowledge it appears to me that it 

 will eventually be found that the three genera Psychoda, Pericorna, 

 and Parabrunettia all possess some species with and some species 

 without: (1) areas of conspicuous extent on the wings covered 

 with scales ; (2) hairs on the surface of the wings in addition to 

 those on the veins ; and (3) some species with the 2nd longitudinal 

 vein forking before the origin of the 3rd longitudinal vein, whilst 

 other species have the fork beyond the origin of the 3rd vein. 

 None of these can by any means be regarded as generic characters, 

 but they serve very well as primary divisions of the species into 

 groups. 



The genital organs have not occupied much attention hitherto, 

 but Dr. Annandale is engaged to some extent on their examination. 

 In dried specimens their exact observation is always difficult. 



The presence of the spiral chsetse on the antennae (so con- 

 spicuously developed in Brunettia superstes) in Psychoda distincta, 

 Pericorna spinicornis, and margininotata, though much inferior in 



* " Conspicuous " is emphasized, as verj' small chjBtre (difiPering only in size 

 from those iu Farahrunettia), are found by Dr. Annandale to be present in 

 some species of Pericorna. They appear to be absent in most species of 

 Psychoda. 



t The creation of a number of genera in PsYCiioDiDiE, based on variations 

 in the scales on the wings, seems wholly undesirable, as tending to reduce the 

 family to the level of taxonomic absurdity at present hajopily to be found only 

 in the Culicid^. 



