32 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



them to the synonymy. He had clearly the right to again 

 resurrect them. The only reason why he had apparently 

 not that right is because the arbitrarily established beginning 

 of zoological nomenclature, 1758, happened to intervene be- 

 tween the proposal of the names and their reference to the 

 synonymy, which caused their first valid appearance as syn- 

 onyms without accompanying description. We think that in 

 this case the fact of their previous description may justly be 

 considered. 



Of these species, Cule.v vulgaris is apparently a Simulium, 

 but Cule.v alpinus is a mosquito, and judging from its place of 

 occurrence, an Aedes in the broader sense. This constituted 

 a restriction of the original conception of Cule.v, by the elimina- 

 tion of the Aedes element, the forms abundant in Lapland, and 

 leaves for our consideration only the common domestic species. 

 We exclude also the exotic forms as not personally known to 

 Linnaeus. In this course we follow and confirm the conclusions 

 of F. V. Theobald in his monograph of the mosquitoes of the 

 world, who recognizes as Cule.v pipiens the common domestic 

 mosquito of Europe. 



Having arrived at this point, we next inquire what is the 

 common domestic mosquito of Europe and does it occur in 

 America? We find in America no less than five closely allied 

 but distinct species living as larvae in artificial accumulations 

 of water and infesting dwellings as adults, which have been 

 known to us collectively as "Cule.v pipiens, the house mosquito." 

 It is probable that there are likewise in Europe several species 

 mixed under the name Cule.v pipiens. Ficalbi (Bull. Soc. Ent. 

 Ital., xxvin, 289, 1896) takes as Cule.v pipiens the common 

 house mosquito of Italy and describes it fully. He had, how- 

 ever, some doubt as to the correctness of his identification 

 and suggests the alternative name Cule.v ha -inatophagus. Now 

 his description indicates that the house mosquito of Italy is not 

 the same species as the one of northern Europe. This latter 

 should clearly be recognized as the true Culex pipiens, while 

 the other may bear the name Cule.v haeinatophagus Ficalbi. 

 It appears to be especially distinguished by the lateral expansion 

 of the abdominal bands on the last two segments, which does 

 not occur in the true Cule.v pipiens, nor in Cule.v fatigans, which 

 Theobald recognizes from the Mediterranean region. It sug- 

 gests in this character the American. Cnle.v siinilis Theobald, 

 an Antillean species resembling the pipiens group. 



Theobald recognizes that Cnle.v pipiens extends to North 

 America, and IK- separates under the name CnJe.v fatigans the 

 more southerly distributed form, extending through the tropics 



