REVIEWS. 



A Monograph of the Anopheline Mosc[uitoes of India. By S. P. James, M. D., 

 D. P. H., I M. S., and W. Glen Liston, M. D., D. P. H., I. M. S., 

 Second Edition. Re-written and enlarged. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink 

 and Co., 1911. 4to. pp. 1-128. 36 plates. 17 text-figures. Price $6.25. 



The avowed purpose of this work is that of "describing the 

 different species in such a manner that any specimen collected 

 will be easily identified as this is the most impoi'tant requirement 

 of any book dealing with mosquitoes." 



As this book is prepared ostensibly for the use of physicians 

 and practical sanitarians, we may therefore overlook with some 

 propriety the fact that in so far as classification is concerned the 

 work is supposed to deal with female mosquitoes exclusively. 



Had the authors stopped at "describing the different species 

 in such manner that any specimen collected [might] be easily 

 identified," their work would have been less liable to adverse crit- 

 icism by systematists, but they, like so many medical men not 

 trained in systematic zoology, have attempted to dabble in generic 

 legerdemain, thereby increasing the confusion already present 

 in culicid classification and adding to the burden of synonymy 

 which must be borne, not by men of their profession, but by the 

 already incumbered entomologist. 



Chapter I deals with a general account of mosquitoes. It con- 

 tains many inaccuracies, which, while known to be such by 

 technical men, are liable to mislead, as for example (page 1) : 

 "the eggs float on the water for some days (two or four) after 

 which time they hatch." Experience in the Philippines shows 

 that Culex fatigans eggs hatch, as a rule within twenty-four 

 hours, so that one to four or more days would have been more 

 accurate. 



The males of mosquitoes do not possess a jiiercing proboscis. 



The proboscis in the Megarhininae is not bent back but bent 

 toward the venter. 



Every observation (of several hundreds) made on the mem- 

 bers of the genus Culex in these Islands goes to show that the 



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