Dec.,1915 Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 99 



to an ancestor of Achilles to repopulate by converting the ants 

 into human beings. These migrated to Macedonia, and always 

 boasted of being descended from ants. 



The Amphictyonic Council, the body governing the Olympic 

 games, w^ere inclined to reject Alexander's claim, and modern 

 science v^ould sustain the objection that the legendary origin was 

 unnatural. However, it is a brave council which crosses the path 

 of a world conqueror. It finally officially declared that the 

 Myrmidons were freeborn Greeks, descended from the ants of 

 vEgina. More probably the truth is that the Myrmidons were 

 descendants of the Turanic tribe (or tribes) known as " ants," 

 and formed the exception to the rule of Iran versus Turan. 



The Mashki (flies) a distinct race of Turan, also held their 

 own through classic times. As the Moschi (compare imisccc) 

 they were mentioned by both PHny and Strabo as a people in- 

 definitely situated between the Black and Caspian Seas. We 

 must emphasize the distinction. There were two tribes. The 

 Mici, or Alike, finally reached Thessaly. The Muiai or Mashki 

 or muscse were among those who preserved their identity until 

 the indefinite period between the times when the Arabs overran 

 and introduced Islamism and the Asiatic conqueror, Genghis 

 Khan, broke down almost all tribal distinctions in the original 

 homes of all Turan. 



The maksiki, mashki, muiai, muscas, as words, are akin to the 

 German miicke and the English midge, but it does not follow 

 that the specific creature known in different tongues by this root 

 word is the same in species, family or order. It does follow, 

 however, that it is the same in a vague interpretation of a biting 

 annoyingness. 



When the Spaniards overran the West Indies, Florida, Central 

 America, etc., they encountered an insect pest of no mean quality. 

 It needed a name. So they took musca, the fly, made it mascu- 

 Hne, and then, since the creature was smaller than the house or 

 stable fly, added a diminutive, making the word mosquito. The 

 word means the little male fly. The Spaniards did not know 

 that the female of the species is more deadly than the male. 

 Within a hundred years we have discovered that the female 

 only bites. 



