256 F. W. EDWARDS — ON THE ORIENTAL 



tibiae shorter than the others (except in L.flava, in which the hind pair are the 

 shortest). Hind tibiae provided with a distinct scraper at the tip. Front claws 

 of male unequal, one or both toothed ; middle claws equal or almost so, toothed ; 

 front and middle claws of female equal, toothed. Wings of the normal Culicid 

 type, without any distinctive feature. Male genitalia : the side-pieces have well- 

 developed basal lobes, which bear spines, but the lobes are not sufficiently divided 

 off from the side-pieces to be regarded as true harpagones ; clasp-filament with 

 5-9 apical or subapical spines ; unci with slightly crenulate margins. Female 

 abdomen tapering ; eighth segment very large and not at all retractile. Head, 

 and scutellum clothed with broad flat scales. Except in the doubtful L. annuli- 

 palpis, the colouring is of uniform type throughout the genus. The covering of 

 the thorax is brown, narrowly creamy on the borders ; the abdominal scaling is 

 brown above, with large white lateral patches on each tergite. 



Larval characters. — Nothing has been recorded concerning the larvae, beyond 

 the fact that they live in bamboos. I have so far been unable to obtain any 

 specimens through correspondents for purposes of description. 



Systematic position. — The genus doubtless belongs to the Aedes group of the 

 Culicini, in spite of the fact that one of the species, in having short hind tibiae 

 and setae on the postnotum, exhibits two otherwise exclusively Sabethine 

 characters. This species (L. Jlava), however, cannot be separated from the 

 genus, as in all other respects, especially in its male genitalia, it conforms to the 

 generic characters of Leicesteria ; its Sabethine characters should probably, 

 therefore, be regarded as evidence of reversion to an earlier type. The nearest 

 relative of Leicesteria is evidently Armigeres (= Desvoidya), which differs only 

 as follows : the female palpi are much shorter ; the mesonotum is not distinctly 

 produced over the head ; the male genitalia have much more numerous spines 

 on the clasp-filament, and the basal lobes of the side pieces are not so well 

 developed. The two genera together form a distinct division of the Aedes group, 

 distinguished by the peculiar structure of the male genitalia and (probably) by 

 the structure and habits of the larvae, those of Armigeres being carnivorous and 

 having neither hair-tuft nor pecten on the siphon-tube. Whether the two genera 

 will ultimately have to be united cannot at present be decided. 



The following synonymy may be given for the genus : 



Leicesteria, Theo. 



Entomologist, xxxvii, p. 211 (1904). 



Chaeto?nyia, Leic, Cul. of Malaya, p. 100 (1908). 



Brevirhynchas, Theo., Rec. Ind. Mus. ii, p. 293 (1908). 



Leicester 'io?nyia, Brum, Rec. Ind. Mus. iv, p. 452 (1912) (nom. n. for 

 Chaetomyia). 



Brevirhynchus is in all respects similar to T^eicesteria ; Theobald had apparently 

 forgotten the existence of the latter genus when redescribing it under a new 

 name. 



