NO. 1438. WINGS OF THE TENTHREDINOIBEA—MAcdILLIVRAY. 57l 



he was led into serious errors in honiologizing- the tips of the veins. 

 In comparing- the few veined wings of the Lepidoptera, I)ii)tera, and 

 Hymenoptera, where [)raetically all the concave veins are wanting, 

 with his primitive fan-type of wing, he concluded that fully one-half 

 of the veins had been lost. He was the first to devise a uniform 

 nomenclature and to apply it to all the orders of Avinged insects. 

 Beginning with the front margin of the wing, the veins were named 

 costa, subcosta, radius, media, cubitus, and anal. The convex veins 

 were designated l)v odd Roman numerals, costa by I, radius by III, 

 media by V, cubitus by VII, and the convex anal veins by IX, XI, 

 XIII, etc., the concave veins by even Roman nunuu-als, subcostaby II, 

 the concave anal veins ]\\ VIII, X, XII, etc.. the concave veins IV 

 and VI being left inmamed. The branches of the veins were desig- 

 nated l)v x-Vrabic numerals appended as indices to the Romati numerals 

 the Arabic indices being odd or even in accordance witli whether the 

 veins ncre convex or concave. 



Redtenbacher in conjunction with Brauer in Ein Beitrag zur Ent- 

 wicklung des Flugelgead(>rs der Insekten." from a study of the devel- 

 opment of the veins in the wing of a nymph of an ^Eschnid, proved 

 that ])oth concave and convex veins are preceded by trachet^ and are 

 therefore similar in oiigin and consequently completely u]iset the 

 conclusions of Adolpii. 



Spuler in iSUiJ in a pajier, Ziir Phylogenie und Ontogenie des Flii- 

 gelgeaders der Schmetterlinge,'' gave the results of an investigation of 

 the trachet^ that precede the wing veins, determined the type of the 

 lepidopterous wing, and was the tirst to recognize that radius in the 

 hind wings of this order has only two In'anches. A modified form of 

 the Redtenbacher notation was adopted, the veins being numbered 

 consecutively with Roman numerals and Arabic indices regardless of 

 their origin, Redtenbacher's veins IV and VI l)eing entirely disre- 

 garded. Unfortunately, however, he overlooked the trachea of costa, 

 vein I, and began his numbers with the second of the pi'incipal veins. 



The following year Comstock' published the results of a general 

 investigation of wing \'eins, with special reference to the Lepidoptera. 

 From a comparative study of the wings of carl)oniferous insects he 

 showed that the two pairs of wings were similar in form and venation, 

 the most generalized forms being found among the carboniferous 

 cockroaches, where, with one exception — the anal furrow, vein VIII — 

 all of the veins are convex, while none of the wings are plaited. He 

 further showed that the fan-type of wing assumed by Redtenbacher as 

 the primitive type was an extreme type of specialization for a par- 

 ticular kind of flight, and that instead of regularly alternating concave 



"F. Bx-auer and J. Redtenbacher. Zool. Anz., XI, 1888, pp. 444-447. 



''A. Spuler. Zeit. Wisw. Zool., LlII, 1892, pp. 597-646. 



'•J. H. Comstock. Wilder Quarter-Century Book, 1893, pp. ;-i7-113. 



