368 MOSQriTOES of north AMERICA 



vulgaris Linnaeus, Culex dlpinus Linnaeus, Culex commmiis de Geer, Cuhx 

 domesticus Germar, Culex rufus Meigen, and Culex agilis Bigot. But as some 

 of these forms are apparently distinguished by sufficient characters, and in 

 others the identity does not seem well established, we have omitted the names. 

 Culex vulgaris and C. alpinus were names used by Linnaeus before 1758, the 

 begmning of accepted zoological nomenclature, and therefore they have no 

 standing. In their resurrection, in the second edition of the Flora Lapponica, 

 we take the first to be a Simulium, the second an Aedes. Culex communis de 

 Geer is apparently referred here because de Geer himself cites pipiens Linnaeus, 

 twelfth edition of the Systema Nature, under his bibliography of communis; 

 but an inspection of his figures of the larva (Mem. des Insectes, vi, pi. 17, 

 especially figs. 2 and 5, 1776) shows that he was describing some species of 

 Aedes. Culex domesticus has been already discussed under C. quinque- 

 fasciatus. Ficalbi described as distinct a form which he found abundant in 

 Italy, breeding in the same situations and closely resembling Culex pipiens, 

 but which did not suck blood. He found females which showed a green color 

 from the chlorophyl of the plant juices they had imbibed and therefore he called 

 the species Culex phytophagus (Bull. Soc. ent. Ital., xxi, 126, 1890). He also 

 found that these specimens could be distinguished by their darker color. But 

 later Grassi suggested to Ficalbi that the two forms might be one species, and 

 Ficalbi, reconsidering the matter, reached this conclusion (Bull. Soc. ent. Ital., 

 xxxi, 210, 1899). He found that fresh females of Culex pipiens do not bite 

 readily and he thought that their color became lighter with age. This last 

 opinion is not borne out by our experience, nor have we ever met or found re- 

 corded females of Culex pipiens of a greenish color from imbibed chlorophyl- 

 eontaining liquid. We must therefore discard this synonymy until the question 

 is studied in an exact way with authentic material, by comparison of larvae and 

 male genitalia. 



It is also probable that what Eondani, Ficalbi and Grassi called Culex pipiens 

 was in part or wholly Culex quinquefasciatus. The only names that remain for 

 us to quote in the synonymy are C. hmmatophagus Ficalbi (a substitute name 

 for C. pipiens), and C. consohrinus Kobineau-Desvoidy. We concur in the view 

 of Giles and Aldrich that Culex consohrinus is a synonym of C. pipiens. Eefer- 

 ences to its wrong use for another species will be found in our synonymy of 

 Culiseta inornatus. There are, no doubt, in Europe many species of Culex and 

 Aedes, comparable with the North American forms, that have been confused 

 and associated under too few names by European authors. Until the European 

 mosquitoes are studied by modern methods and the types of the old species ex- 

 amined from the new view-point no comprehensive synonymy can be accepted. 

 Ficalbi in his description of the form for which he proposed the name Culex 

 hcematophagus states that the pale dorsal bands are laterally produced on some 

 of the abdominal segments and on this account we supposed the form to be dis- 

 tinct. We find, however, that both sexes are described together and that this 

 character was probably taken from the male. There exists a considerable litera- 

 ture in American publications under the name Culex pipiens, but we have been 

 obliged to pass it over almost unmentioned, as it certainly does not refer to this 

 species alone, and we have no certainty that the true Culex pipiens was even a 

 component part of the material discussed. It is at least certain that the records 

 from far northern localities do not apply to this species, but to species of Aedes 

 with unhanded legs. Specimens from the warmer parts of America, which have 

 been called Culex pipiens, belong to other species, mostly, if not wholly, to C. 

 quinquefasciatus. In the old world many of the records from warmer latitudes 

 undoubtedly are referable to the last-mentioned species. The southward dis- 



