VOL. 48 1907 
SMITHSONIAN 
MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS 
VOL, Ill QUARTERLY ISSUE PART 3 
: THE SPECIES OF MOSOQUITORS IN. THE GENUS 
MEGARHINUS 
By HARRISON G. DYAR ann FREDERICK KNAB 
Since the publication of our paper on the classification of the 
Culicide by larval characters! we have had access to the adult ma- 
terial brought together for Dr. L. O. Howard’s forthcoming mono- 
graph of the family. The result has been not only a change in the 
interpretation of the forms of Megarhinus previously dealt with by 
American writers, but also the bringing to light of many discrepancies 
in the European literature of the group. To begin with we will cor- 
rect the prevailing error regarding the structure of the female palpi 
of Megarhinus. Theobald describes two forms (M. purpureus Theob. 
and M. trichopygus Wied.) in which the female has four-jointed 
palpi, the last segment long, tapering and slightly curved like the 
fifth of the male palpi.2, When there was no such terminal segment 
present he assumed the last segment to be broken off. Therefore in 
his diagnosis of the genus he says: “the female palpi are 4- or 5- 
jointed.’ 
A careful search through Mr. Theobald’s descriptions does not 
reveal any female with a fifth segment on the palpi. Indeed, in two 
places, in the descriptions of the females of his M. separatus and 
portoricensis he describes the four-jointed palpus and adds “ last 
joint missing.’* The females of the seven species of Megarhinus 
before us have palpi of the type supposed by Theobald to be imper- 
fect. Bred perfect specimens and close inspection show that there 
are only four segments present in the female. The terminal seg- 
ment in these forms is rather stout, of about equal length with the 
*The larve of Culicide classified as independent organisms. Journ. N. Y. 
Entomological Soc., v. XIv, pp. 169-230 (1906). 
* Monograph of the Culicide, v. I, pp. 230-231 (1901); v. 3, pp. 115-116 
(1903). 
Buen. Wand, D. S15: 
soe N 1B. 225 anid p, 233. 
