140 PROCEEDINGS ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Captain Feamside gives a figure of one of the flies observed 

 attacking mosquitoes and this shows that the insect belongs to the 

 genus Culicoides. In this case the midges were found attached to 

 common house mosquitoes, presumably Culex quinqiiefasciatus 

 ( = fatigans) . 



If blood-fed mosquitos (i.e., culex) are collected from the dark corners of 

 rooms, godowns, &c., one occasionally meets with a small fly fixed to the 

 undersurface of the abdomen of the host .... When it has fed, there 

 is an oval brown mass in the centre which is decomposed blood extracted 

 from the mosquito's stomach. 1 



Dr. Stanton's observation is as follows : 



During the past year I have been engaged in the examination of anopheline 

 mosquitos taken in the Pudoh Gaol, Kuala Lumpur. On six occasions I 

 have found a species of Ceratopogon with its proboscis, as shown in the 

 specimen, deeply embedded in the abdomen of female anophelines which had 

 previously fed on blood, presumably that of prisoners. The anophelines 

 were of the following species N '. fuliginosus , N. karwari and M. sinensis. 

 The flies were in every case attached to the under surface of the abdomen, 

 generally about the fourth or fifth segment. Twice the anopheline carried 

 two specimens of the fly. In every case the stomach of the Ceratopogon 

 contained blood. 



Recently the writer has examined a preparation sent by Mr. A. 

 Rutherford of Paradeniya, Ceylon, in which there is a specimen of 

 Culicoides attached to a female Anopheles. In this case the midge 

 has its proboscis inserted in the anterior thoracic region of the 

 mosquito, just above the fore coxae, and there is nothing to indicate 

 that it might have been extracting the contents of the mosquito's 

 digestive tract. The reference given in my previous article, on 

 p. 64, for F. H. Gravely 's note is incorrect; the article appeared 

 in vol. 6, p. 45, of the Records of the Indian Museum. 



It appears that the statement made by myself on p. 65, that 

 blood is absent from the wings of mature Lepidoptera, is erroneous. 

 In this I was only sharing a common impression that there is no 

 circulation in the hardened wings of most insects. I need hardly 

 add that I was perfectly familiar with the more obvious cases, such 

 as certain Coleoptera, in which there is a plain and abundant cir- 

 culation during life. The question has been very ably discussed 

 recently by Mr. R. Bervoets and his careful investigations have 

 resulted in the demonstration of an active circulation in the wings 



1 Parasites found on mosquitos. Indian Med. Gazette, vol. 35, p. 129- 

 130, 1900. 



