-INTRODUCTION. 
This volume which I was asked to prepare by the late Director, 
Sir Ray Lankester, K.C.B., following on those of 1901, 1903 
and 1907 (Yols. I. to IV.) does not contain, as was hoped, a 
complete record of all the species of Culicidae described since 
the publication of Yol. IY. 
The reasons are many, foremost is the fact that the accumu¬ 
lated material has become so great that it is impossible to deal 
with any but a very scanty portion unless one can give one’s 
whole time to the work. The writer has only been able to 
devote his leisure hours to this matter. 
Again, the subject has been much complicated by the number 
of descriptions of insects, from ' North and Central America 
and the West Indies, which are wholly inadequate for correct 
diagnosis. This curt method of dealing with these insects can 
only lead to hopeless confusion, and in the end to a large 
synonymic list, which is already becoming great. 
The creation of genera and species from larvae of which the 
adults are not known has made matters still worse. 
In this volume nearly a complete list, with synonyms, 
references to the previous volumes and some other new references 
are given; old and new localities up to 1910 are also included. 
Twenty-one new genera have been created, of which thirteen 
are given here for the first time. 
No less than three hundred and ninety-two speciesehave been 
described or old descriptions found since the last volume went 
to press. Of these the writer is responsible for one hundred and 
,six, eighty of which #re described in this work. 
3 1 Most of the large number of species described by Messrs. 
Dyar and Knab from the Americas and the West Indies have 
been referred to in the Appendix, only the names, references and 
localities being given. The genera and species formed by the 
same observers on larval characters have not been included. 
