CULEX QUINQUEFASCIATUS 351 



then three smaller ones, then the foliate plate, and then a single spine; the first 

 large spine is thick and ends bluntly, sword-like, the second is longer, curved apically 

 and tapering, the third is much thinner than the other two, of the three smaller ones 

 one seems larger than the other two but no longer; harpes small and sickle-shaped; 

 harpagones small, dark, claw-like; setaceous lobes sessile, with many spines on the 

 apex and sides, of a black colour. 



Length. 5.8 to 6 mm. 



Habitat. Osaka, Japan. 



Observations. .... [It differs from Culex fatigans^ in the male palpi being 

 much longer than the proboscis, in the marked male genitalia. . . . the stalked 

 setaceous lobes of the male genitalia are also very characteristic. 



Original Description of Culex christophersii: 



Head dark, speckled with pale dull yellowish scales, paler at the sides and 

 around the eyes, and a dark patch noticeable on each side; palpi and proboscis deep 

 brown. Thorax clothed with dull pale yellowish scales with two median bare lines 

 and a rich brown spot on each side on the anterior half; pleurae pale greyish white, 

 scutellum very pale. Abdomen brown with basal pale creamy curved bands. Legs 

 brown, unhanded, base and under side of femora pale, also knee spot and apex of 

 hind tibiae. Male palpi brown, acuminate, unhanded. 



5. Head brown, clothed with small narrow-curved pale yellowish scales on the 

 occiput, flat white ones laterally, upright ochraceous forked scales in the middle and 

 a patch of black ones on each side, which form the dark lateral spots noticed with a 

 hand lens. Palpi and proboscis deep brovv^n, the latter with testaceous labellae. 

 Antennae brown, basal segment yellowish. Palpi three-jointed, the two basal seg- 

 ments small, the apical one large. 



Thorax brown, clothed with narrow-curved pale dull golden scales almost creamy 

 in some lights and a rich brown scaled roundish area on each side in front, not very 

 noticeable under the microscope as it is under a hand lens; scutellum very pallid 

 and the small almost translucent scales of a pale creamy grey; the mid lobe with 

 six prominent dark border-bristles; the chaetae of the posterior area of the meso- 

 notum are very noticeable owing to the integument and scales becoming very pale 

 before the scutellum, being almost uniform in colour with it; metanotum pale 

 ochreous; pleurae very pallid, with some flat white scales. 



Abdomen brown, clothed with deep brown scales with dull violet reflections and 

 with curved basal creamy yellow bands and pale basal lateral spots, venter creamy 

 yellow; basal segment testaceous with some dusky scales in the middle; hairs brown 

 with golden reflections. 



Legs brown, unhanded, the femora at the base and beneath, especially of the hind 

 legs white, a small pale knee spot to the hind legs and also a pale spot at the apex 

 of the tibiae; ungues small, curved, equal and simple. 



Wings with moderat^ely long fork-cells, the first sub-marginal longer and narrower 

 than the second posterior cell, its base slightly nearer the base of the wing than 

 that of the latter, in length about two and "a half times that of the stem; stem of the 

 second fork-cell not quite as long as the cell; posterior cross-vein shorter than the 

 mid, about three times its own length distant from it. Halteres pale ochraceous. 



Length. 4.5 to 5 mm. 



c^. Palpi acuminate brown, the last two segments deep brown and also the apex of 

 the antepenultimate, the last two segments of nearly equal length, with a few long 

 black hairs which also pass to the apex of the antepenultimate segment, but which 

 barely can be called hair-tufts. Proboscis brown, dark at the apex and swollen. 

 Ungues of fore and mid legs unequal, uniserrate, of the hind legs equal and simple. 



Length. 4.5 mm. 



Habitat. India (Dr. Christophers). 



Observations. Described from several 5's and a c? sent to the Museum by Dr. 

 Christophers. It is a somewhat obscure species, the thoracic ornamentation not 

 always being very noticeable. The best character to identify it by is the presence of 

 the black patches of forked scales on the head, in conjunction with the thoracic 

 adornment and banded abdomen it should thus be fairly easy to distinguish. 



There is considerable variation in the number of scutellar chaetae and in the 

 relative length of the fork-cells and their stems. 



Obiginai, Description of Culex aikenii: 



Female. Unknown. 



Male. Proboscis long and slender, the apical portion somewhat stouter, clothed 

 with brownish and grayish scales, giving a mottled effect, without light ring; palpi 

 very long and slender, slightly thickened in their apical halves, clothed with brownish 



