Februaey 9, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



233 



the end of tlie article I suggested that if work- 

 ing zoologists would send me their votes for 

 or against these proposals, I would list the 

 names and forward them for publication. I 

 give below a list of those voting, all against 

 the changes referred to. Many of the voters 

 added strong expressions, condemning the 

 practise of altering names, and some wrote 

 long and interesting letters. Not a single 

 voice was raised in favor of the changes. It 

 will be seen that the list, while only moder- 

 ately long, includes a highly representative 

 series of names : 



Frank C. Bakes, €hicago Academy of Sciences. 

 [Mollusca.] 



Paul Bartsch, assistant curator. Division of 

 Mollusca, U. S. Nat. Museum. 



C. J. S. Bethuke, editor Canadian Entomologist. 



Philip P. Calvert, University of Pennsylvania. 

 [Odonata.] 



Thomas L. Casey, U. S. A. [Coleoptera, Mol- 

 lusca.] 



H. L. Clark, Olivet College. [Ecliinoderms.] 



Edwin W. Doran, Biological Department, James 

 Millikin University. 



E. P. Felt, state entomologist of New York. 



L. S. Frierson, Frierson, La. [Mollusca.] 



K. W. Gentue, assistant professor of natural 

 history. Trinity College, Hartford, Conn. 



Joseph Grinnell, Pasadena, Calif. [Birds.] 



Junius Henderson, curator of museum, Univer- 

 sity of Colorado. [Birds, Mollusca.] 



L. 0. Howard, chief of Bureau of Entomology, 

 U. S. Department Agriculture. 



David Starr Jordan, president of Stanford Uni- 

 versity. 



J. Percy :Moore, University of Pennsylvania. 

 [Vermes.] 



Henry F. Nachtrieb, professor of animal biol- 

 ogy. University of Minnesota. 



.T. G. Needham, Lake Forest, Ills. [Entomol- 

 ogy-] 



Oscar W. Oestlund, University of Minnesota. 

 [Aphididae.] 



Geo. W. Peckham, Milwaukee, Wis. [Arach- 

 nida.] 



Mary J. Rathbun, U. S. Nat. Museum. [Crus- 

 tacea.] 



H. M. Smith, Bureau of Fisheries, Washington. 



Chas. p. Sigerfoos, professor of zoology, Uni- 

 versity of Minnesota. 



India (which he was editing), quite withoiit the 

 approval of the author himself! 



C. W. Stiles, Public Health and Marine Hos- 

 pital Service. [Helminthology.] 



F. M. Webster, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



It occurs to me that it might become a use- 

 ful custom to take votes on questions of wide 

 interest through the agency of Science; not 

 for the purpose of enforcing rules or decisions, 

 but in order to bring out and crystallize public 

 opinion. When there were many votes on 

 each side, the editor or the voters might be 

 asked to choose one on each side to present 

 the arguments in full. 



T. D. A. C. 



SPECIAL ARTICLES. 



THE classification of mosquitoes. 



Recent authors have subdivided the Cu- ■ 

 licida3 in various ways, although using mainly 

 the same set of characters. It seems, how- 

 ever, that the best and most natural group- 

 ing consists in the recognition of three sub- 

 families, as follows : 



I. Anopheun.^. Defined by the long ellip- 

 tical compressed thorax; the palpi are long in 

 both sexes; the metanotum is without hairs. 

 The larvse have a short sessile breathing ap- 

 paratus and are surface feeders, being supplied 

 with fan-shaped tufts on the dorsum, which 

 serve as an attachment to the water film. A 

 ventral brush or rudder is present on the last 

 segment after the first stage. The larvse live 

 in all kinds of water, from that in hollow 

 trees to the edges of swift streams, depending 

 upon the species in question. They all re- 

 quire a comparatively extended surface, owing 

 to their habits of surface feeding. Contains 

 the genus Anopheles and its subdivisions. 



II. Culicin^. Defined by the short round- 

 ed thorax; the palpi are generally short in the 

 female, sometimes short in the male also; the 

 metanotum is without hairs. The larvas have 

 a long breathing tube, always longer than wide, 

 and are not surface feeders. A ventral brush 

 or rudder is present on the last segment after 

 the first stage. The larvse live in permanent 

 or temporary stagnant pools or puddles ; sev- 

 eral species are addicted to hollow trees and 

 one lives only in water-worn holes in rocks. 

 A few species are predaceous, feeding ex- 



