22 



fcfy 



male has two longitudinal main tracheal stems (figs. 12-14, ft 1 ), and two rows 

 of longitudinal muscles. 



Whether the male Culex can bite, or not, is a question to which I can give 

 no decisive answer ; but I do not believe it can. I have tried to have the male 

 mosquitos bite me when in the field, where they were abundant, but they did 

 not seem attracted, as the female mosquitos were, to my person ; they flew away 

 indifferently without lighting upon me. I have often taken male mosquitos, with 

 all possible care to prevent disturbing them, beneath a glass cover upon my hand, 

 letting them remain long enough to be as tranquil as they were Avhen upon the 

 leaves and grass of the field, but they would neither bite nor show any desire 

 to do so, nor have T been able to feed male mosquitos with water, saliva or 

 fresh blood, all of which liquids the females often drink with avidity. 



Upon anatomical grounds I believe that male mosquitos take liquid food, 

 altho I have never dissected their stomachs to see what this food was. They 

 have mouth-parts and pharynx developed sufficiently to suck liquids; but the 

 absence of barbed maxillae, of a free hypopharynx, and of an oesophageal bulb, 

 leads one to suppose that they take a smaller quantity of food than the females 

 do, and that they do not obtain it by piercing the skins of animals. 



THE ANATOMY OF THE MOUTH-PARTS OF BOMBYLIUS. 



The mouth-parts of the Bombyliidae have been studied only superficially. 

 Sulzer 14 says (p. 174) "The proboscis" of Bombylins "is as long as and longer 

 than the thorax, extended horizontally, bristle-like, more flexible apically, and is 

 only the sheath for the true sucking-seta, which comes out through its upper 

 side, which, as in Conops, is split longitudinally." * Fabricius writes (Syst. 

 entom., p. 802), "Mouth haustellate, without proboscis. Haustellum very long, 

 straight, setaceous, bivalvate" ** and (Phil, adorn., p. 50), "setae three."*** 

 Gerstfelclt 3 writes (p. 31-32), "The Bombyliidae also have four setae, which 

 always represent the maxillae, the upper lip and the hypopharynx, Avhile the 

 mandibles are united with the proboscis-sheath in Bombylius the hypopharynx 



s "Der Riissel 1st so lang, und langer, als die Brust, horizontal ausgestrekt, borsten- 

 ahnlich, vorne biegsamer, und nur die Scheide zu dem rechten Saugstachel, welcher durch die 

 obere Seite, die, wie bei dem Pferdstecher, der Lange nach gespalten ist, heraus kommt." 



* "Os haustellum absque proboscide. Haustellum longissimum, rectum, setaceum, 

 bivalve." 



*** "Setae tres," 



