CULEX COMITATUS 369 



tribution of Culex pipiens in the Eastern Hemisphere yet remains to be de- 

 termined. We have added to the synonymy the names Culex varioannulatus, 

 C. azoriens'is, C. osakaensis, and C. quasiguiarti, all of Theobald, on the 

 authority of F. W. Edwards, who has examined the types in the British Museum 

 (Bull. Ent. Res., iv, 55, 1913). 



CULEX COMITATUS Dyar & Knab. 



Culex cubensis Dyar (in part), Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xxxii, 124. 1907. 

 Culex comitatus Dyar & Knab, Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., xi, 35, 1909. 



Original Description of Culex comitatus : 



The genitalia have the general characters of quinquefasciatus, race dipseticus, 

 but differ especially in the character of the second plate of the harpagones, which 

 is no longer a plate, but a tubular structure, with oblique open tip. The first plate of 

 the harpagones is broad and rather long, with rounded tip, essentially as in dipseti- 

 cus. The basal projection of the harpes is very short, but this cannot be especially 

 emphasized, as its apparent condition varies greatly with the position of the mount. 



Our specimens are from National City, San Diego, Sweetwater Junction, Laguna, 

 Avalon, Los Angeles, San Pedro, San Luis Obispo, and Stanford University, Cali- 

 fornia, all these places being on the coast, south of San Francisco, or on the adjacent 

 islands. 



It is somewhat curious that the species Culex quinquefasciatus, after ranging 

 throughout the warmer parts of the world unchanged, should, in the arid parts of 

 America, develop first a distinct race and finally a species. This must be of signifi- 

 cance in regard to the original home of the species. Evidently quinquefasciatus is 

 of tropical American origin, and has latterly spread, no doubt through the agency of 

 commerce, to all the warmer regions of the world. In these places it has not been 

 resident long enough to develop local races and species, as it has done in America. 

 Conversely, it is probable that Culex pipiens is of European origin, and has only 

 latterly spread to America through the agency of commerce. 



Culex comitatus has the same habits as its congener, quinquefasciatus. The larvae 

 occur in all sorts of artificial accumulations of water, and the adults frequent houses 

 and attack the inmates at night. 



Type. No. 12201, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



Description of Female, Male, and Larva of Culex comitatus : 



Female. Proboscis moderate, uniform, labellae conically tapered; vestiture 

 blackish brown with a bronzy luster, paler beneath, darker towards tip; setae 

 minute, curved, black, those on labellae more prominently outstanding. Palpi 

 short, about one-fifth the length of proboscis, uniform, clothed with blackish 

 scales, setse at base long and outstanding. Antennas moderate, joints subequal, 

 rugose, pilose, blackish, second joint scarcely enlarged; tori subspherical with a 

 cup-shaped apical excavation, yellowish shading to brown on inner side. Clypeus 

 rounded triangular, convex, brown, nude. Eyes black. Occiput brown, clothed 

 Math narrow, curved scales, whitish with a slight brownish tinge, with some 

 broad, flat white ones at lower part of sides and along margins of eyes ; numerous 

 erect, forked scales above, yellowish white or dark brown, according to the light. 



Prothoracic lobes elliptical, remote dorsally, brown, clothed with a few narrow 

 pale scales and brown bristles. Mesonotum "brown with two narrow, impressed, 

 dorsal bare lines in front, clothed with narrow, curved golden-brownish scales 

 and numerous brown bristles. Scutellum trilobate, brown, clothed with narrow, 

 curved pale-golden scales, each lobe with a tuft of golden-brown bristles. Post- 

 notum elliptical, pale brown, nude. Pleurae and coxa? brownish luteous, clothed 

 with patches of flat yellowish-white scales and rows of brown bristles. 



Abdomen subcylindrical, truncate at tip, depressed, clothed dorsally with 

 blackish scales which have a slight bronzy and bluish reflection, the segments 

 with a basal transverse band of yellowish-white scales, broad and produced in 

 middle, much narrowed at sides, but joined to a row of triangular lateral basal 

 segmental spots ; first segment with a patch of dark scales and many pale hairs ; 

 last segment white scaled with a small black spot in middle ; venter clothed with 



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