AXOPHELES CRUCIANS 1025 



slender, nearly as long as side-piece, slightly enlarged at base and apex, wiih a 

 short articulated terminal spine. Unci slender, columnar, with two tufts of 

 spines at tips projecting at right angles. 



Larva, Stage IV. Head rounded, elongate, bulging at the sides, frontal 

 portion before antennae conically produced; dorsal head-hairs single but 

 numerously branched, in a line between antennae, a smaller hair at base of 

 antennae ; two long approximate setae on front margin. Antennas subcylindrical, 

 slightly tapered, spined on one side, a tuft of four hairs at basal fifth ; two long 

 dentate articulated terminal processes, one small one and a small hair-tuft. 

 Eyes large, pointed. Mental plate small, slightly tapered, with a median tooth 

 and four on each side, first and second subequal and approximate, third distant, 

 fourth small. Mandible quadrangular, convex without; eight large branched 

 hairs on dorsal aspect in a line, two smaller ones near them ; two pairs of flat 

 appendages near tip, the distal pair feathered ; an outer row of cilia ; terminal 

 dentition of thirteen teeth, upper two large, third prominent and bearing the 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth on its lower declivity, the other teeth small; two fila- 

 ments above, three within; a square spinose dentate process below; a thick 

 process at end of dentition, one at base, between these processes a row of setse, 

 the central ones longest. Maxilla roimded rectangular, palpus attached by a 

 narrow constriction; numerous setae and spines on inner aspect, those at the 

 angles rather long ; palpus with round projecting base, a dendritic tuft within, 

 five terminal digits and two flattened appendages. Thorax rounded quadrate, 

 about as long as wide ; hairs short, consisting of branched hairs, single hairs 

 and tufts, mesothorax sparsely haired. Abdomen stout, anterior segments 

 shorter; long feathered lateral hairs on first three segments, double on first 

 and second, single on third ; posterior hairs small, smooth ; a dorsal series of five 

 pairs of fan-shaped tufts on third to seventh segments (plate 130, fig. 452), the 

 first and fifth smaller than the others. Air-tube sessile, subquadrate, roundedly 

 angled posteriorly. Lateral plates of eighth segment posteriorly with a series of 

 spines, about eight long stout ones, separated from each other by from one to 

 four short spines. Anal segment about as long as wide, Avith a small dorsal plate ; 

 dorsal brush a long and a short tuft on each side ; a single long lateral hair below 

 the plate ; ventral brush well developed, of long branched tufts ; anal gills moder- 

 ate, about as long as the segment, slightly constricted centrally, blunt pointed. 



Egg (plate 147, fig. 696 *). Elongate fusiform, slightly more tapered toward 

 one end, both ends rounded; dorsal surface granular, ventral surface coarsely 

 hexagonally reticulate : floats occupying about half the sides in top view, sepa- 

 rated at the middle by nearly one-third the diameter of the egg. 



The eggs are laid singly, a small number at a time, upon the surface of tl^ 

 water. The larvse live in ground-pools, usually in tidal marshes. Smith, in N'ew 

 Jersey, found that the species breeds upon the salt marsh, but whether in water 

 of saline content is not stated. Dyar found the larvae in a dirty pool in the bed of 

 a small stream a few feet from where it emptied into salt water, although the pool 

 itself was fresh. Breeding occurs also inland, but the majority of our captured 

 adults, and all of our larvae, come from the vicinity of the sea coast. Below New 

 Orleans Doctor Beyer found this mosquito " an abundant pest in the salt and 

 brackish water marshes along the lake shores east of the river, where they occur 

 throughout the year, not even diminishing in numbers during freezing weather, 

 as all duck hunters have experienced to their discomfort while in their blinds 

 among the tall grasses of the prairie." Smith states that the females bite both 

 at night and by day, " long before dusk and long after sunrise." He says they 

 readily enter dwellings, and at Cape May, New Jersey, were the most annoying 

 indoor mosquito. Doctor Dyar took specimens in the house at Bellport, New 

 York, and his experience agrees with that of Professor Smith, as whenever a 

 mosquito was taken in the house it was more apt to prove this species than any 

 other. Both localities are on the sea shore. 



* The figure shows the dorsal aspect of the egg, not the ventral as stated on the plate. 



