198 .PSYCHODID,*:. 



of the male with three pairs of append- 

 ages ; ovipositor of female without a 



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

 The 7th longitudinal vein conspicuously pre- 

 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 the PSYCHODIX^E, Psychoda 

 and Pericoma, which never possess conspicuously scaled wings and 

 conspicuous chaetae together in the same species ; * and Brunettia 

 arid Parabrunettia, in which both scaled wings and tolerably or 

 very conspicuous chaetae 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 chaetse on the 

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

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

 described, must remain the genotype of Brunettia. 



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

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

 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 chsetae on the antennae (so con- 

 spicuously developed in Brunettia superstes) in Psychoda distincta, 

 Pericoma spinicornis, and margininotata, though much inferior in 



* " Conspicuous " is-emphasized, as very small chsetse (differing only in size 

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

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

 Psychoda. 



t The creation of a number of genera in PsvciioDiDyE, 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 happily to be found only 

 in the CULICID.E. 



