Article beginning on page 47.
Psyche 9:47-60, 1900.

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f'uscated apicully, not banded. Proiiot~~~n n-iarked with brownish fuscous on the prozona behind the eyes and sometimes across the posterior iniirgi:~ of the prozonal disk, the front margin of which is a liltlc elevated especially above and in the mnle, the dihk of whole prozonn tolersibly smooth and neiirly plane, the medisin carinn very slight, the hind ninrg'in strongly obtusaiigulate or broadly rounded, the lateral lobes inferiorly truncate not extending below the level of the free pleural lobe. Tegniinit rather iilen- der, subequal. pale tes-tuceous, feebly ein- brcwnei-1 mesiallj in prexiinal linlf, flecked conspicuously with well dislrlbuted brown- ish fuscous spots; wing's glistening hyaline, :l few of the veins at extreme apex narrowly :tnd inconspicuously infuscnted, at least in the female. Hind femora, long and slender, pale testaceous, occasionally and especiall~ at base hoary, bifasciate above with brown- ish fuscous.
Length of body, 8, 10.25 mm., f, 18
inni.; antennae, 8, 3.5 mm., 9, inm.:
teginin;~, 8, 9.5 nun., 9, 16.5 mm. ; hind femora, 8, 7 mm., ?, 11 nun. One male is of i~nusuril size, the tegmina measuring 14 mm. in length, but otherwise there is little variation in thc specimens from the above figures.
13 8 13 2 . fulm Springs, Cal.,
July 9, I 2; A. P. Morse.
r 1 . he species is peciiliiir for its small size, short antennae, slender hind fein- om, brief lateral lobes and broadly an-
plate metazonal process.
The work of Comstock and Neeiiliam*
upon the wings of insects is decidedly an importiiiit contribution to the subject, for a limn step has been taken towards a satisfac- tory theory of venation. This advance has been attained by an extended study of the tracheae which precede and, in a broad way, determine the positions of the veins. Select- ing immature stages of generalized reprc- sentativcs of each order, the authors arrive at a t.ype of trachealion which may fairly be taken to represent a primitive condition,' an origin for more complicated types of
tracheation and venation. The lines along which specializa~ion iippeiirs to have occurred in the larger orders are carefully traced and the processes fully and clearly figured. Specialization occurs either by the reduction (atroplij' or coalescence) or else by the ackli- *Constock, J. H. aud Needliam, J. G. The Whigs of Insects. A series of articles on the structure and dcvcl- (ipmeiit of the witugs of insects, with special reference to the taxonomic value of the characters presented, by the wings, 124 pp., 90 figs. Reprinted frnin The American Naliiralist. I~liaca, N. Y. The Comstock publish in^ Co. tion of veins from a multiplication of the branches of the principal veins. Fortti- nately the familiar terms adopted by Rcclten- bacher are retained.
Committing ourselves to the authors' con- clusions, licrhaps too unreservedly, we were mildly shocked to find that the method fails of application among Trichoptera, most Dip- tera and the Hymenoptem, at least, because the correlation between tracheae and veins is almost lost. As the method seems to have justified itself, however, ft critic can scarcely do more at present than to emphasize the necessity of caution in the employment of the method.
Especially instructive are the discussions upon the wings of Odonata, Epheincrida and Orthoptera. The elytra of Culeoptera we
definitely homologized with wings.
The palaeontologiciil evidence is rather summarily dismissed with the negative con- clusion that it does not contradict the
authors' results.
Precisely on account of
the " imperfection of the record" does the close resemblance of the Devonian Xeno-
neura to the hypothetical type of the authors acquire a value that makes the above conclu- sion unnecessarily cautious.




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Now tliat tlie study of wing development criticisin of incompleteness \\hich does no proniises to dispel the uncertainty which has have sufficient regard for the evidence de- cluiracterized our theories of venation, the rived from fosil fonns. pa1aeontoiogic;il evidence will gather now The substantial progress which Cornstock interest in proportion as the data from am1 Needham have inaugurnteil onght to recent insects become moie definite. In stimulate many others to continue the hame fact, no theory of venation can escape the line of study.
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