General Notes. 5 
are the same, but they differ considerably from the markings in 
all your drawings of this species (drawn from specimens taken in 
December).” : 
That the amount of variation in wing-markings is very great 
I am fully convinced, and the actual number of spots, for instance, 
cannot be taken alone as of specific value. Some species are 
very constant, others extremely variable. 
This occurs not only in the Anophelina, but also in the spotted 
winged Culicina (i.e. genus Theobaldia). The cross-veins seem to be 
most unstable in certain species of Culicidae, both amongst the 
Anophelina and Culicina, but I have never observed this to occur 
in the Aedeomyina except in Sabethes. Certain species of Anopheles 
have the cross-veins fairly constant, others have them so in one 
district, not in another, whilst others seem to be always subject 
to variation. In Culex pipiens I pointed out in vol. ii. p. 135, 
that the relative positions of the cross-veins may not be the same 
in the two wings of one specimen. I have since found this to 
occur in Theobaldia incidens (called to my notice by Professor 
Aldrich), in Myzomyia Rossii and M. funesta. Captain James 
has observed the same in M. culicifacies. Under the circum- 
stances, the position of the cross-veins cannot be taken to be of 
any specific value in closely allied species, not that one would 
be likely to base a species on one such character when we know 
the great variation in this respect in certain species. 
This variation in position of the cross-veins was first called 
attention to in Anophelina by Drs. Stephens, Christophers, 
James, and Liston, while working on the Indian Anopheles. 
PALPAL ORNAMENTATION. 
Considerable importance has been placed by the above men- 
tioned workers in India on the banding of the ? palpi. This 
banding is certainly most constant, except in such species as 
maculipalpis, where the palps are not only banded, but mottled 
with pale scales, and to some extent in the genus Myzorhynchus, in 
which I have observed constant variation, as previously pointed out. 
But for such species as are included in the genera Myzomyia and 
Nyssorhynchus, etc., there is no doubt that the palpal ornamentation 
gives a character by which we may readily separate closely allied 
species. This is, however, merely a question of colour, and cannot 
be taken to be a character of specific value. In only one 
instance in the two genera mentioned have I come across two 
