BY FREDERICK A. A. SKUSE. 21 



be lifted on to the gummed card with a needle, great care being 

 taken not to touch the wings with the gum. When insects are 

 sent through the post they must on no account be placed in fragile 

 boxes, and must always be tirmly pinned, otherwise they may Ije 

 destroyed before reaching tlieir destination. The box should be 

 light and at the same time as stx'ong as possible, lined with cork at 

 the top and bottom. Having securely pinned the specimens the 

 box should first be tightly tied, and then well wrapped in cotton 

 wool or some similarly soft material before being eventually 

 carefully enveloped and tied up in thick paper. The address and 

 postage stamps should be placed on a label attached by string to 

 the package, but on no account must they be put on the wrapper 

 of the box, as the process of obliteration pursued by the postal 

 authorities is likely to be attended with a disastrous result as far 

 as the contained specimens are concerned. 



I wish here to cordially thank the Hon. William Macleay, who 

 has done all in his power to facilitate my work, and also Mr. 

 Masters, whose aid in the collection of specimens has been very 

 considerable. 



The Avritings of Baron R. Osten-Sacken, Prof. Loew, and Mr. 

 Winnertz have given much information as to the classification and 

 life-history of the Cecidomyidie, and I desire to freely acknowledge 

 the great help I have obtained from these and many other older 

 authorities. Unfortunately my resources have not included Dr. 

 Hchiner's Fauna Austriaca, Diptera, therefore I have been unable 

 to avail myself of the mass of valuable information therein 

 contained. 



At the head of the descriptions of Cecidoniyidae described for 

 the first time in this paper, I have given microni(!trical measure- 

 ments of the antenna}, wings, and bodies of what T consider 

 average-sized specimens, in thousandths of an inch, and correspond- 

 ing fractions of a milliiju'-tre. 



The following table will show approximately the system of 

 classification of the families I propose to a<lopt, founded more or 

 less on that of Brauer and Schiner : — 



