THK CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 1 19 



recommend oilins; stagnant pools to destroy mosquito life. Even where it 

 is generally true, however, mosquito larvae may, under exceptional condi- 

 tions, survive complete submergence for some time. 



Late in the fall of 1905 (November) Mr. H. H. Brehme was collecting 

 on the salt mirshes under instructions to investigate ice-covered pools, and 

 on that day the pools generally had an ice coating one-quarter of an inch 

 or more thick. It was necessary to break through this cover to make 

 collections, and among other things a number of larvie of Culex saltnarius 

 were found, apparently dead and lying on the bottom. Put into a bottle 

 of water they sank and remained there for a time. After a few minutes 

 signs of life were observed and feeble movements were noted. Then came 

 a few jerks and a feeble effort to reach the surface. After a short period of 

 quiescence came another attempt, and yet another, until finally the surface 

 was reached, and communication with the outer air was re-established. 

 Again the larva? descended, remained below a few minutes, reascended, 

 and in about an hour the creatures were as lively as ever. They had been 

 cut off from the air for 13 hours at least, had not been caught in the 

 freezing ice, but had apparently become t(jrpid and sunk to the bottom. 

 ^Vith the rise in temperature activity was renewed, and in the laboratory 

 the specimens were nearly all brought to maturity. 



November 30, 1906, Mr. Brehme was again collecting on the marshes, 

 and in pools covered witii thin ice formed during the preceding night, he 

 took a number of full grown larva' and two \\\\\iw. of Culex cantator. The 

 larvaB were scarce, only two or three to a pool, but all were active and 

 developed normally. It is (piitc possible, therefore, that in a mild season 

 like that of 1906, a salt-marsh brood might issue as late as December ist, 

 and, indeed, a communication received from Dr. Howard leads me to 

 believe that locally such a brood did issue in a neighbouring State. If 

 that was also the case in New Jersey it was not noticed, and the insects 

 did not get off the marsh. 



We have also been in the habit of considering the adult mosquitoes as 

 rather short-lived, and this turns out to be another terror, as to quite a 

 number of species at least. A striking case noticed in r9o6 was that of 

 Culex abfitrhii, which until that year was known from New Jersey by only 

 a specimen or two as the result of three or four years of close collecting. 

 In April of last year the larva was found locally in the Orange Mountains 



