SABETHES CYANEUS 29 



name cyan c us Fabricius is the earliest one applicable to this species. We quote 

 his remarks, as follows : 



" Theobald assumed that the Culex cyaneus of Fabricius is identical with Wil- 



liston's Hacmagogus splendens To the writer the original description 



seemed to conflict with this identification in that it indicates a mosquito with 

 uniformh' white sides of the abdomen. This type of coloration is characteristic 

 of the Sabethini and so are the long legs indicated by Fabricius. Very few 

 mosquitoes of the metallic blue color of Culex cyaneus are known, and in vieAV 

 of the recent large collections of Culicidge it seems improbable that Fabricius 

 had before him a species that has remained unknown to subsequent workers. In 

 considering these points Dr. Dyar and the writer thought that most probably 

 the mosquito in question was identical with Sahethoides nitidus Theobald 

 (=8. confusus Theo.) and published this opinion; however, until the type had 

 been examined, this identification could not be more than tentative. The oppor- 

 tunity to definitely identify this mosquito came in 1908, when Mr. Busck 

 visited Copenhagen, where the type is preserved in the Eoyal Zoological Museum. 



" Mr. Busck examined the type at our request and what he found showed that 

 our determination was incorrect. The specimen has a much swollen proboscis, 

 while in Sahethoides nitidus, and also in Hcemagogus, the proboscis is slender. 

 The abdomen is blue above, silvery below, not banded, and this indicated a 

 sabethid ; but Mr. Busck, who examined the specimen with a hand-lens, could 

 find no setse on the metanotum. Moreover, he found that on the front legs, the 

 only ones remaining, the claws are toothed near the middle, a condition we had 

 not found in any of the many sabethids we had studied. Yet we could not find 

 that there was a blue culicine with swollen proboscis, and it seemed inconceivable 

 that Fabricius had a mosquito which has since remained unknown. A review 

 of all the blue mosquitoes with reference to the proboscis led inevitably to 

 Saljetlies, and as in the Fabrician type the middle legs, which in that genus bear 

 the characteristic ciliation, v/ere missing, it seemed probable that cyaneus be- 

 longs to SahctJies. Two points, however, the toothed claws and the absence of 

 metanotal setae, threw a doubt upon such identification. It seemed reasonable 

 to suppose that Mr. Busck, in his examination with a hand-lens, had failed to 

 find the delicate setse on the metanotum ; but that still left the toothed claws to 

 be accounted for. In this extremity we applied to Dr. Boving, of the Copen- 

 hagen Museum, and he kindly reexamined the type. The points ascertained by 

 Dr. Boving are as follows: (1) Metanotum undoubtedly with setse; (2) an- 

 tenna plumose, the joints long, as in Sabethes ; (3) palpi very short, hardly one- 

 fifth the length of the proboscis intact, without trace of breakage; (4) claws 

 of the fore legs undoubtedly toothed, each claw with a small but distinct tooth 

 near the middle; (5) wing with the posterior cross-vein nearer the apex of the 

 vring than the anterior cross-vein; (6) wing with the scales of the veins broad, 

 obliquely truncate. To these characters must be added the following, determined 

 by Mr. Busck in his examination of the type : (7) Abdomen blue above, silvery 

 below no trace of banding ; (8) proboscis much swollen apically ; (9) wing with 

 the second marginal cell very much longer than the second posterior cell. All 

 these characters fitted Sahethes locuples Rob.-Desv., as known to us, perfectly, 

 with the one exception of the toothed claws. As the Fabrician type is un- 

 doubtedly a sabethine, and we had only female specimens of Sahethes before us, 

 it seemed practically certain that the Fabrician specimen is the male of Sahethes 

 locuples. It is true that in the descriptions of male Sahethes available to us the 

 front claws are stated to be simple. These descriptions, however, are by Theo- 

 bald, an author who had, in our experience, proved to be unreliable in such 

 details. While everything pointed to an error in Mr. Theobald's statement, the 

 question could not be considered settled until a male Sahethes had been examined 

 by someone else. 



