24 
Psyche 
[February 
NOTES UPON SURCOUF’S TREATMENT OF THE 
TABANIDA^J IN THE GENERA INSECTORUM 
AND UPON ENDERLEIN’S PROPOSED NEW 
CLASSIFICATION OF THIS FAMILY.^ 
By J. Bequaert. 
The Tabanidse are a family of Diptera of considerable 
economic importance. They are universal in their distribution 
and extremely numerous in species, over 2,100 forms having 
been described thus far. The great majority of these bite and 
suck the blood of vertebrates and thus become at times very 
troublesome to man and his domestic animals, in addition to 
being actual or potential carriers of infectious diseases. Sur- 
couPs review of the family in Wytsman’s ^‘Genera Insectorum’^ 
(Brussels, 1921, 205 pp., 5 Pis.) must therefore be greeted with 
satisfaction. Only those who have attempted work along similar 
lines can fully appreciate the amount of painstaking drudgery 
and first-hand knowledge involved to make such compilations 
of real value. Considered as a whole, Surcouf^s revision is as 
satisfactory as it could have been made within a reasonable 
limit of time and it is far from my intention to present herewith 
unfavorable criticism. My remarks are merely prompted by 
the ever increasing interest these flies are assuming for medical 
and veterinary entomology, so that SurcouPs work is likely to be 
perused as a source of information by many students with little 
or no entomological training. It seems therefore necessary to 
call attention to certain omissions and errors which might easily 
lead astray the non-specialist. 
In the introductory part Surcouf deals with the external 
morphology and adds certain details of internal anatomy: his 
researches upon the structure of the ocelli and the genitalia are 
presented as original work. An account of the habits of the 
adults, oviposition, larval and pupal stages, and enemies follows. 
This is supplemented by some original observations in an ap- 
pendix (pp. 186-194) and also by notes under the several genera. 
^Contribution from the Department of Tropical Medicine of Harvard 
University Medical School. 
