LIFE HISTORIES OF CULEX. 29 



the female shows the usual instinct, which is so noticeable 

 in insect economies. E. A. Butler, " Ent. of Pond.," ^^ 

 has described the oviposition of Culex so graphically that 

 no excuse is necessary for inserting it here. " Finding 

 some floating shred of straw, stick, grass, or other support, 

 the expectant mother rests her two fore legs on this, allows 

 the next pair gently to touch the water, and crosses the third 

 pair behind, to form a sort of vise in which to hold the eggs 

 as they are deposited. Then a long oval egg is lodged in 

 the angle formed by the crossed legs, with its longer diam- 

 eter vertical ; another following it is glued on to the side 

 of the first in a similar jjosition, and so on till some two 

 or three hundred are fastened into a sort of raft, or rather 

 lifeboat, as the mass is curved upward at each end. 

 Then the little vessel is abandoned to the mercy of winds 

 and wavelets, and so floats about for a few days, benefiting 

 by sun and air, till the growing embryos, finding their 

 quarters too close, push open a kind of trapdoor in the floor 

 of the egg, and take a dive at once into a watery home." . '^' -^ 



When hatched the larvse hug the sides of pools and 

 shallow margins ; owing to the frequency with which they 

 need to come to the surface for air, and the fact that they 

 are not deepwater feeders, they are not usually found in 

 the depths. jSIuch of their time is spent at the surface 

 Avith the orifice of the air tube just in contact with the air. 

 (Plate II., Fig. 4.) Here they are easily frightened by 

 any stir or motion from above, but pay little attention to 

 any dangers which may menace theni from the water. 

 The approach of other insects or of small fish seems to 

 afford them no uneasiness. 



Very little is known of the feeding habits of Culicid 

 larvae ; the statement that they are scavengers, feeding on 



