62 Journal New York Entomological Society. [Vol. xiv. 



gain strength for the demands of egg-production, a disposition to this 

 proceeding would become a habit and normal, and finally an indispen- 

 sable postulate. The sucking of blood, acquired accidentally as a 

 secondary habit, becomes an essential factor in the mosquito's life in 

 relation to the ripening of the sexual products of the female. Today 

 these insects must have blood for the propagation of their species. 



The description of the mating of mosquitoes is of great interest, as 

 very little has been made known on this subject. The species ob- 

 served is Culex fatigans, although the author fails to specify this. On 

 a subsequent page, in the second chapter, he treats of the mating 

 habits of Stegomyia fasciata and compares them with those of the pres- 

 ent species. The swarms of Culex that enter the houses at night-fall 

 in dense clouds are principally males which seek the females already 

 there. The infernal music of innumerable mosquitoes assails one's ears 

 and at the same time they dash against one's face. Striking light one 

 sees the multitude dancing and cutting frantic capers. There are two 

 swarms, one composed entirely of males, the other only of females. 

 The sexes are guided towards each other principally by the song and 

 one soon perceives that there are two sounds, the higher produced by 

 the males, the lower by the females. The actual sexual union is wholly 

 devoid of ceremony. Some female detaches herself 'suddenly from her 

 companions and approaches the cloud of dancing males. Immediately 

 she is seized by a male and united they retire from the swarm. It is 

 not rare that such pairs forget all prudence and in their frenzy hit against 

 everything and even roll upon the ground. In some cases a female is 

 seized by two males at the same time and all three fall, rolling over each 

 other in the fiercest sexual frenzy. Theobald says, " I have never seen 

 a male C. pipiens or of any other European species indoors." In Para 

 the males of both Culex fatigans and Stegomyia fasciata daily invade 

 the houses in swarms. Oviposition (of Culex fatigans ?') is said to 

 occur only at night. The observations on the localities where the eggs 

 of Culex fatigans and Stegomyia fasciata are laid agree with those of 

 Durham and Myers. Culex fatigans contents itself with any ditch, no 

 matter how muddy or foul, puddles of waste water and drains, and is 

 easily reared in the laboratory. Stegomyia fasciata is quite particular 

 in the selection of breeding places. It prefers relatively clean water 

 and is customarily found in the depressions of the horizontal rain-gut- 

 ters on houses, in barrels, jars and other receptacles, in the still folded 

 leaves of banana plants, the leaves of bromelias, etc. In captivity the 



