30 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMEEICA 



" The opportunity came with Dr. L. 0. Howard's visit to Europe the past 

 summer, and at our request he examined the material in the British Museum. 

 Dr. Howard, with the use of the compound microscope, found that in the male 

 of Sahethes locuples the claws of the front feet have a small tooth at about the 

 middle. Thus the question is settled beyond a doubt : Culex cyaneus Fabricius 

 is identical with Sahethes locuples, upon which Robineau-Desvoidy founded his 

 genus, and with Culex remipes Wiedemann. Fabricius did not mention the 

 most obvious character of the species, the ciliate middle legs, because, without a 

 doubt, the specimen already had those legs missing when it came into his 

 possession. Wiedemann had the type before him when he prepared his Aus- 

 sereuropdische zweiflugelige InseMen and in such cases he gave supplementary 

 notes, in addition or correction of the short Fabrician diagnosis ; that he does 

 not mention the ciliation of the middle legs is further proof that those legs were 

 missing at that time. 



" It may appear strange that Wiedemann failed to recognize the identity of 

 Culex cyaneus Fabricius and his Culex remipes, described in the same volume. 

 The description of Culex remipes was, however, added in the third supplement 

 (Fernere Nachtrage) of the first volume of the above named work, and it was 

 drawn up at a later period when he no longer had the Fabrician type before him." 



Eobineau-Desvoidy, in quoting the original description of Culex cyaneus, 

 already suggested its true position : " An Sahethes ? " 



Since the above was written a single male specimen has come into our hands 

 through Mr. A. H. Jennings, who was fortunate enough to collect it, together 

 with several females. The claws of the fore tarsi are simple. We have also 

 received 3 males through the courtesy of Mr F. V. Theobald. These also have 

 the tarsal claws simple, but they all show adhesions of a dried mucilaginous 

 substance which in several instances closely simulates the appearance of teeth 

 on the claws, even under the lower powers of a compound microscope. We think 

 that this condition of the claws may be due to some condition of the life history, 

 and that it probably commonly occurs upon specimens of this species. The claws 

 of Fabricius's type are probably thus affected, giving rise to the errors of observa- 

 tion reported by our correspondents, as well as explaining Dr Howard's state- 

 ments about the specimens in the British Museum. 



SABETHES BIPARTIPES Dyar & Knab. 



Sahethes hipartipes Dyar & Knab, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xix, 136, 1906. 



Sahethes nitidus Coquillett (not Theobald), U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent., Tech. Ser. 11, 



28, 1906. 

 Sahethes hipartipes Theobald, Mon. Culic, v, 622, 1910. 



OeIGINAI. DeSCEIPTION of SABETHES BIPARTIPES : 



Proboscis black; palpi and head metallic blue; thorax olive-green with two broad, 

 deep blue discal stripes, the prothoracic lobes blue; pleurae and coxse silvery; abdo- 

 men dark metallic blue above, greenish towards base, venter golden with silvery basal 

 segmental bands; first segment entirely silvery underneath. Legs, the middle pair 

 with the second and outer third of first tarsal joints with a long flattened fringe, 

 black, the apical half of the fringe of the second segment creamy white, the leg deep 

 metallic blue. Front and hind legs simple, blue. 



Two specimens, Santo Domingo, West Indies (F. E. Campbell; A. Busck). 



Type: Cat. No. 9980, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



The same or a similar species has been described by Theobald as the male of his 

 Sahethes nitidus (Mon. Culic, ii, 347, 1901); but the type of nitidiis is clearly the 

 female there described, and is referable to the section Sahethoides, in which the tarsi 

 are not plumed, thus leaving the present species nameless. 



Description of Female of Sabethes bipartipes (Male and Larva Unknown) : 



Female. Proboscis moderate, scarcely enlarged at tip, labell conically 

 tapered; vestiture black with a blue reflection; setas fine, short, obliquely out- 

 standing. Palpi moderate, one-fourth as long as proboscis, uniform, black with 



