AEDES DECTICUS 737 



Professor Aldrich is quoted by Theobald, on what we believe to have been 

 this species, as follows : 



" It is so small that it readily crawls through ordinary mosquito screen. At 

 the hotel in Market Lake it was found necessary to apply a thick coat of paint 

 to the screens after they were in place ; this reduced the size of the holes enough 

 so that no further trouble was experienced in their coming through. It is a very 

 annoying species, and seems to breed altogether in an arm of the Snake River 

 which lies beside the little town, and which has no current except during the 

 period of high water in the spring." 



Idaho. 



Market Lake (J. M. Aldrich) ; Lewiston, June 16, 1902 (J. M. Aldrich). 



AEDES DECTICUS, new species. 

 DESCKrPTiON OF Femaij; of Aedes DECTICUS (Male and Larva Unknown) : 



Female. Proboscis rather long and slender, uniform; labellgc conically 

 tapered; vestiture black; setse minute, curved, black, those on labellse more 

 prominently outstanding. Palpi short, about one-fifth as long as proboscis, 

 vestiture black with faint violet luster, sets moderate, bristly. Antennse with 

 the joints subequal, rugose, pilose, black; second joint thickened, third longer 

 than succeeding ones; tori subspherical, with a cup-shaped apical excavation, 

 blackish ; hairs of whorls moderate, sparse, black. Clypeus broadly sub-trian- 

 gular, rounded in front, prominent, black, nude. Eyes black. Occiput black, 

 a narrow median line of narrow, curved, white scales, the rest broad, creamy 

 white ; two large quadrate black spots laterally, separated from a second spot on 

 the sides by a broader band of white scales ; nape with creamy scales and upright, 

 black, forked ones ; bristles along margins of eyes black, those at vertex paler. 



Prothoracic lobes elliptical, remote dorsally, black, clothed with rather broad 

 white scales and dark bristles. Mesonotum black, clothed with narrow, curved 

 scales, very dark brown in a very broad median stripe divided by a narrow 

 median line of pale yellowish ones, sides broadly, anterior margin narrowly 

 and antescutellar region with yelloAvish scales, on each side of antescutellar space 

 a dark stripe reaching forward to middle, separated from the median dark area 

 by a narrow line of yellow scales. Scutellum trilobate, black, clothed with 

 narrow, curved, pale-yellowish scales, each lobe with a group of pale bristles. 

 Postnotum elliptical, prominent, blackish-brown, nude. Pleurae black, coxae 

 luteous, clothed with patches of elliptical white scales and rows of pale bristles. 



Abdomen subcylindrical, tapering posteriorly ; dorsal vestiture black, without 

 luster, the segments with large dirty-white basal lateral triangular spots ; first 

 segment dorsally with dull-white scales and pale hairs ; venter dull black with 

 creamy- white basal segmental bands, broad on basal segments, narrower on distal 

 ones ; cerci black. 



Wings rather narrow, hyaline with slight smoky tinge ; petiole of second mar- 

 ginal cell less than half the length of its stem, that of second posterior cell nearly 

 equal to its cell ; basal cross-vein distant slightly more than its own length from 

 the anterior cross-vein ; scales deep brown, on eosta with slight violet luster, the 

 outstanding ones narrowly ligulate, truncate at tip. Halteres whitish, the knob 

 infuscated. 



Legs slender and rather long, the vestiture brownish black with a slight violet 

 luster; femora pale at base and beneath nearly to tip. Claw formula, 

 1.1-1.1-1.1. 



Length : Body about 4 mm. ; wing 3.8 mm. 



Type : No. 12280, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



Life history and habits unknown. 



