THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 139 



NOTES ON THE EARLY STAGES OF CORETHRA 



BRAKELEYI, Coq. 



BV JOHN B. SMITH, SC. D. 



On June ist, 1901, while on a mosquito hunt with Mr. J. Turner 

 Brakeley, at Lahaway, we investigated the little pools around the head of 

 a swamp spring. The water was very cold, and our object was, mainly, 

 to ascertain whether Aedes larvae occurred in such localities, where 

 pitcher plants were in the vicinity. 



In the course of our dipping I found a very odd little wriggler, 

 altogether different from anything I had ever seen before, and soon Mr. 

 Brakeley found the same thing. We took only a few of them at that 

 time, and from their minute size I assumed they must be very young. I 

 afterward sent a specimen to Dr. Howard, and he appeared as much at 

 sea concerning its location as I was. It seemed to be a Culicid larva, 

 without much doubt ; but that was as far as we could get. The speci- 

 mens were about an eighth of an inch in length, light reddish in colour, 

 and very hairy in appearance. The head was very broad, and from it the 

 body tapered gradually to the short obtuse anal siphon. Mr. Brakeley 

 christened them " bull-heads," and I called them " triangles." They 

 were kept alive a short time only, and during that period proved very 

 sluggish. 



July 27th, Mr. Brakeley was at Lahaway, and put in an hour dipping 

 for mosquito larvae in a lily pond at the foot of the garden. The pond 

 is full of fish, but in the grassy shallows around the edge Culicids breed 

 to a limited extent. Here he struck a little nest of the " bull-heads," 

 and secured two dozen, which he carried to his town house in Borden- 

 town. The little creatures remained almost motionless for hours, some 

 at the surface, some below it at various points. Some had the anal 

 siphon at the surface and the head a little below, the position being inter- 

 mediate between that assumed by Anopheles and that assumed by Culex. 

 Two of these little larvae pupated on July 28th and others on the 29th, 

 30th, and 31st. On August ist I went to Bjrdentown and took charge of 

 the culture, expecting to get out almost anything rather than a Culicid. 



The pupa was just as odd as the larva, and reminded me of a 

 Lycaenid chrysalis with a pair of breathing tubes. These pupae were 

 at the surface, and seemed to have little power of motion. They were 

 easily submerged and easily drowned. Though I was as careful as I 

 could weh be, the jarring between Bordentown and New Brunswick 

 meant death to several of them. 



