678 MOSQUITOES OF NOETH AMERICA 



filament; three small setae subapically. Harpes elliptical, edges recurved and 

 thickened, tips pointed and directed outward. Harpagones with stout base 

 tapering outwardly, minutely hirsute, bearing at its tip an articulated filament 

 which widens, broadly lanceolate, with a short, somewhat recurved branch on 

 inner side near middle. Unci invisible. Basal appendages small, rather ap- 

 proximate, bearing about six stout setae. 



Larva, Stage IV (plate 117, fig. 403). Head rounded, widest through the 

 eyes, sloping regularly to the front; antennae slender, uniform, finely spined, 

 the hair tuft at the middle ; both pairs of dorsal head-hairs rather long, in threes, 

 ante-antennal tufts multiple. Skin of body smooth. Lateral hairs in twos on 

 second to sixth abdominal segments. Lateral comb of eighth abdominal seg- 

 ment of about twenty-five scales in a triangular patch, each scale fringed on the 

 sides and with a long apical spine. Air-tube stout, less than four times as long as 

 wide, slightly tapering outwardly; some fine hairs on dorsal surface towards 

 base; pecten fine and dense, reaching nearly to middle of tube, the last two 

 teeth detached; followed by a multiple hair-tuft. Anal segment longer than 

 wide, with a large dorsal plate, reaching well down the sides ; dorsal tuft a long 

 hair and tuft on each side ; lateral hair small, single ; ventral brush large and 

 abundant, with small tufts preceding the barred area nearly to the base of seg- 

 ment. Anal gills long, pointed, equal. 



The larvae inhabit ground-pools early in spring. There is a single annual 

 generation. These larvae develop rather slowly, and consequently inhabit water 

 of a more permanent character than do those of the other species developing in 

 snow-water. Mr. Knab says: 



" Larvae of this species in the second stage were found on May 19. They fre- 

 quented the larger ditches and pools and appeared to be absent from most of the 

 small pools, which dry out in a few weeks and form the favorite habitat of the 

 larvae of A. spenceri. Although next in importance to A. spenceri, this species 

 is very much less numerous. The larvae develop more slowly, and most of them 

 do not reach maturity until after the larvae of A. spenceri have disappeared. 

 They seemed to thrive best in the deeper reedy pools of a more or less perma- 

 nent character, Avhere they feed near the bottom, ascending for air from time to 

 time. On May 25 the larvae were still in the second and third stages, and it 

 was not until May 28 that a larva in the last stage was obtained. June 10 the 

 first pupa was found, and the larvae were at that time nearly all in the last stage. 

 June 13 pupae were numerous, and by June 18 the larvae had all disappeared 

 and only a very few pupae remained. On May 27 the larvae, in the third stage, 

 were found in ditches and in a permanent swamp which were so strongly alkaline 

 that there was a white deposit along the margins. In the alkaline ditches pupae 

 and full-grown larvae of A. spenceri and small larv of A. curriei were asso- 

 ciated with the larvae of A. fletcheri. The adults bite in the daytime and also 

 toward evening." 



Prairies of western Canada and north-western United States. 



Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 22, 1907 (F. Knab) ; Regina, Saskatchewan, 

 June 23, 1902 (J. Fletcher) ; Pine Creek, Saskatchewan, July 12, 1903 (J. 

 Fletcher) ; Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, June 9, 1901 (J. Fletcher) ; Carnduff, 

 Saskatchewan, May 28, 1901 (J. Fletcher) ; Oxbow, Saskatchewan, June, 1907 

 (F. Knab) ; Belonge Creek, Saskatchewan, July, 1907 (V. A. Armstrong) ; 

 Olds, Alberta, July 15, 1901 (J. Fletcher) ; Mount Cheam, British Columbia, 

 August 3, 1899 (J. Fletcher) ; Big Fork, Montana (Edith M. Ricker). 



Theobald described Culex flavescens from an unknown locality; but as the 

 name was preoccupied, Blanchard proposed a substitute. The description, how- 

 ever, agrees so well with our A'edes fletcheri, that we venture to refer it to the 

 synonymy of this species, although we have not examined the types. 



