2 BULLETIN 66, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



suggestions and aid; to Prof. Lawrence Bruner in permitting the 

 writer to extract all material from the collections of the University 

 of Nebraska for study and to deposit all type material in the U. S. 

 National Museum; to Mr. J. C. Crawford for very valuable aid 

 throughout the entire work; to Dr. Henry Skinner for his courtesy in 

 lending material from the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences; and 

 to Mr. Charles T. Brues, Mr. Charles Dury, Mr. Henry L. Viereck, 

 Dr. Sigmund Graenicher, Mr. Fred C. Bowditch, Miss Annette F. 

 Braun, and Dr. A. Fenyes for the kind loan or donation of specimens 

 and notes, and to Mr. Fred C. Bishopp, Mr. Charles R. Jones, Mr. F. C. 

 Pratt, Mr. W. A. Hooker, and Mr. R. A. Cushman, the author's 

 associates, for their zeal in procuring stylopized material for breeding 

 and examination; and finally to Mr. Karl Ilofeneder, of Innsbruck, 

 Austria, for valuable assistance during the past two or three months. 



COMMON NAMES FOR STREPSIPTERA. 



In order to accustom the readers to the many common names used 

 in referring to this order the following list has been compiled. The 

 strictly Latin names for the group may be found by reference to 

 the synonymy preceding the characterization of the order. The 

 greater part of these names mean " twisted-winged;" hence we, may 

 call them the twisted- winged parasites. 



English and American writers use the nouns "strepsipter," "strep- 

 sipteran," "stylops," "stylopid," "rhipipter," "rhipipteran," and the 

 adjectives "strepsipteral," "strepsipteran," "strepsipterous," "stylo- 

 pid," "rhipidopterous," "rhipipteran," "rhipipterous," and speak of 

 the host as being "stylopized." In Spanish the insects are known 

 as " estrepsipteros," or "ripipteros." German writers use the terms 

 "facherfliigler," "kolbenfiiigler," "rhipidopteron," "schmarotzende," 

 "schraubenfiugler," " strepsipteren," and "stylopiden," and speak 

 of Xenos as "die Immenbreme." They speak of a host as "stylopi- 

 sirt." The triungulinid is known as the "schmarotzerthierchen." 

 French writers generally speak of the "strepsipteres," "rhipipteres," 

 or "rhipidopteres," and call the host "stylopise." In Scandinavian 

 works are found the terms "strepsiptererne," and " vif tevingedes." 

 In Russian works the group is known as "BiepoKpuidix-b." 



HISTORY. 



The anomalous character of the Strepsiptera has led in the past to 

 a great shifting of the groups from one place to another in the systems 

 of classification. Rossi in the eighteenth century and Kirby in the 

 first years of the nineteenth century each described a queer and 

 entirely anomalous insect, seemingly without connecting links with 

 any known forms. It was not until Kirby saw Professor Peck's new 

 species {Xenos jpeckii) and heard of Rossi's description that it occurred 



