June, 1906.] KNAB : GOELDl's ' ' Os MOSQUITOS NO PARA." 69 



origin of Stegomyia fasciata. He concedes that the malady which 

 carried off part of the crew of Columbus was most likely the yellow 

 fever, but protests that this does not constitute a proof against its 

 previous existence in Africa. A further argument is sought in the 

 close association of Stegomyia fasciata with man and its partiality to 

 large cities. He asks where were the large cities on the Atlantic 

 coast between the Antilles and the Rio Plata? He further states that 

 the indigenous American was at all times what he still is to-day ; 

 jealous of his absolute freedom, he has neither the habits nor the in- 

 clination necessary to concentrate himself in cities of really large size. 

 The characterization of the native American which follows is a very 

 faithful portrait of the Amazonian Indian and will apply, in the essen- 

 tial points, to our North American Indians as well. He contrasts 

 with the retiring characteristics of our Indians the excessive socia- 

 bility of the African. All the accounts of African travelers abound 

 with exclamations of surprise at the number of towns reaching a size 

 beyond easy estimation. The author has, however, entirely ignored 

 Mexico and Central America, peopled in great part by natives of 

 advanced culture and entirely different character from the primitive 

 races to the north and south. Surely the writer is not wholly ignorant 

 of the historical accounts of the dense population of peaceful agricul- 

 turalists that inhabited the region at the time of its discovery and the 

 extensive cities, doubtless of great age, that existed then. We know 

 that even upon the author's own ground, the lower Amazons, at the 

 time of the discovery there was a dense agricultural population con- 

 gregated in large towns — a population probably far in excess of that 

 of the present day. 



The author likewise assumes an Ethiopian origin for Culex fatigans 

 and points out the close correspondence in the distribution of this 

 species and Stegomyia fasciata, as shown in the maps given by Theo- 

 bald, and this he believes to be by no means accidental. It is fitting 

 here to call attention to the uncertain status of some of the species of 

 Culex, particularly those of the group to which C. fatigans belongs, 

 and the absolute impossibility, in some cases, to refer specimens to 

 their proper species with certainty. The author himself, on another 

 page, points out that the variety skusii of Culex fatigans must be a dis- 

 tinct species, as the larval characters differ widely in the two forms. 

 From a study of the larval material brought together by Dr. L. O. How- 

 ard for his forthcoming monograph of the Culicidae the reviewer has 



