428 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 



The following is an abstract of the table : 



1. Antennae with the tuft outwardly placed, the part beyond slender. . 5 



5. Air tube four times as long as wide or over 7 



7. Anal appendages four, normal 8 



8. Air tube with four to ten paired tufts along the posterior line in a 



straight row, none displaced, or the hairs obsolete or absent. 18 



18. Air tube without a crown of spikes, smooth throughout 19 



19. Air tube with long well-defined tufts 20 



20. Body glabrous or lightly granular 26 



26. Air tube regularly tapered, the tip not widened 28 



28. Upper head hair triple, lower single decorator 



Description of Labva of Ctjlex decorator (Adui-t Unknown) : 



Larva, Stage IV (see figure of the entire larva, plate 56). Head siibquad- 

 rate, broad, widest through eyes, a large notch at insertion of antennae, front 

 margin arcuate. Antennte large, thick and spined on basal two-thirds, with 

 a large tuft from a notch ; two long sets almost at tip, a long seta, a short one 

 and a digit at tip. Upper pair of dorsal head-hairs in threes, lower pair single ; 

 ante-antennal tufts multiple. Mandible quadrangular ; two long filaments and 

 a short one before tip ; an outer row of cilia from a collar ; a dense row of trans- 

 verse rounded prominences just within outer margin, each bearing a long, 

 slender hair and tuft of short ones ; dentition of two long teeth on a process with 

 some short spines below ; a spine before, two teeth at base, a long smooth filament, 

 a row of feathered hairs within ; process below shallowly furcate, with a short 

 transverse and longitudinal row of hairs and tuft at tip ; basal angle moderate, 

 with a row of stout hairs within ; a row of long hairs at base. Maxilla elongate, 

 bluntly rounded at tip, divided by a suture ; inner half with a row of long spines 

 on margin, basal ones feathered; two rows of cilia at base and a patch of short 

 spines beyond ; a stout articulated spine at outer third ; a tuft of long hairs at 

 tip running down along the suture ; outer half with two short filaments near 

 middle. Palpus very small, with four long, straight terminal digits. Mental 

 plate rather small, triangular, with a large thick central tooth and six on each 

 side,, first four closely spaced, fifth somewhat projecting and separate, sixth 

 small. Thorax rounded, wider than long. Abdomen moderate, anterior seg- 

 ments shorter; lateral abdominal hairs in threes on first segment, in twos on 

 second, in threes but short on third to fifth, double and long on sixth ; skin 

 smooth ; tracheas slender. Air-tube long and straight, ver\' slightly tapered, 

 over seven times as long as wide ; pecten reaching about one-fourth, single teeth 

 short, coarsely serrate on one side ; four tufts on posterior margin beyond pecten, 

 decreasing in length towards tip. Lateral coml) of eighth segment of many 

 spines in a triangular patch ; single spine elongate, widened at tip, with an 

 apical fringe of spinules. Anal segment about twice as long as wide, ringed by 

 the plate ; dorsal tuft of two long and two short hairs on each side ; ventral brush 

 well developed, confined to barred area. Anal gills very small, not half as long 

 as the segment, tapered. 



The larvffi were found in water in a bamboo-joint. 

 Tobago Island, near Trinidad, West Indies, May, 1905 (A. Busck). 

 Mr. Busck obtained no adults of Culex decorator, and we have not since re- 

 ceived it. 



CULEX NIGRIPALPUS Theobald. 



Culex nigripalpus Theobald, Mon. Culic, ii, 322, 1901. 



Culex nigripalpis Giles, Gnats or Mosq., 2 ed., 468, 1902. 



Culex nigripalpus Theobald, Mon. Culic, ill, 221, 1903. 



Culex nigripalpis Blanchard, Les Moustiques, 328, 1905. 



Melanoconion nigripalpus Theobald, Genera Ins., Dipt., fasc. 26, 32, 1905. 



