REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST I904 



467 



Hermaphrodites. These abnormal forms are rare in the insect 

 world, and a study of the modifications presented is of con- 

 siderable interest, particularly in groups presenting secondary 

 sexual characters in various organs. Mosquitos are specially interest- 

 ing in this respect because well defined sexual characteristics are 

 found in the palpi, antennae, wings, claws and terminal abdominal 

 appendages. Owing to the fact that most hermaphrodites in this 

 group resemble either one sex or the other closely, they are rarely 

 detected till after death, and, as a consequence, it is almost impos- 

 sible to give attention to more than the external characteristics, 

 since internal structures are badly distorted by drying before the 

 imique character of the specimen is recognized. We are not aware 

 of any hermaphrodite mosquitos being described before. A brief 

 characterization of the two following forms will doubtless prove of 

 interest, since they present some peculiar modifications. 



Culicada abserratus Felt. The head of this specimen presents a 

 well marked lateral division, the right side being male, the left female. 

 The male antenna appears to be practically normal for that sex, 

 while the other shows a marked male influence 

 in the enormous prolongation of the basal 

 whorls of each segment and particularly in 

 the greatly extended 14th and 15th segments. 

 The male or right palp appears to be normal 

 for that sex, while the left or female palp shows 

 a decided tendency toward the male form in 

 that the terminal or fifth segment is as long as 

 either the third or fourth, while in the normal 

 female this segment is reduced to a mere rudi- 

 ment. Unfortunately the wings from the two 

 sides of this specimen were not carefully labeled 

 when mounted. What is probably the wing 

 from the right side, is a little narrower than 

 the other. The subm.arginal cells have slightly 

 longer petioles, the posterior cross vein is some- 

 what more remote from the mid cross vein and 

 the scaling is also distinctly thinner, all char- 

 acters indicating a male influence in the right 

 wing, though this organ has the oblique fringe 

 scales, so characteristic of the female, well 

 developed along the posterior margin. The 

 left wing presents practically every character 

 of the normal female. This identification of p 

 the wings is borne out by an examination of 

 the legs, the right fore leg presenting a dis- 

 tinctly male character in that the claws 

 are decidedly unequal. The mid and pos- 

 terior claws are equal and the same is true 

 of all three of the legs from the left side. 



iG. 10 Culicada 

 abserratus, her- 

 maphrodite palpus 

 shoNving the fifth seg- 

 ment nearly the same 

 size as the third and 

 fourth, a distinct ten- 

 dency toward the con- 

 dition found in the 

 opposite sex, much en- 

 larged (Original) 



