Dec, 1906] Dyar and Knab : Larv.-e of Culicid^e. 185 



Plate on the sixth segment reaching to the middle of the side; a plate on 

 the eighth segment balow the comb fascipes 



Mansonia signifer Coquillett. 



Culex signifer Coquillett, Can. ent., xxviii, 43, 1896. 

 Stegomyia signifer Theobald, Mon. Culic, i, 322, 1901. 

 Culex signifer Smith, Ent. news, xi, 26, 1903. 

 Culex signifer Dyar, Journ. N. Y. ent. soc, xi, 26, 1903. 

 Culex signifer Smith, N. J. Agr. exp. Sta., Bull. 79., 338, 1904. 

 Stegomyia signifer Blanchard, Les Moustiques, 258, 1905. 

 Culex ? signifer Ludlow, Med. Record, N.Y., Jan. 20, 1906. 



The larva is a normal inhabitant of the water in hollow trees. It 

 occurs also in similar artificial situations, such as rain barrels, and is 

 rather widely distributed in the United States. The peculiar dorsal 

 platings on the abdomen appear only in the last stage, but the larva 

 is recognizable in all stages by the absence of pecten on the air tube. 

 The tracheal tubes are expanded into bladders in the thorax. The 

 eggs are deposited at the water line and adhere firmly to the side of 

 the vessel. They are covered by a peculiar veil, marked bv radial 

 folds. 



Mansonia fascipes Coquillett 



Mansonia fascipes Coquillett. Proc. ent. soc. Wash., vii, 182, 1906. 



We have received these peculiar larvse from Mr. F. W. Urich from 

 Trinidad, who communicates the following notes. "The predomin- 

 ating colour of these larvae is red ; when young the pigment is pale on 

 the dorsal anterior half of each segment of thorax and abdomen and 

 gets lighter, until a white ring is formed at the joint with the next 

 segment, thus giving the larva a red and white ringed appearance. 

 This coloration is maintained right through all stages of the larva. 

 At each change of skin the red color gets more intense, until the 

 mature larva has a rather dark appearance. The pupa also has a 

 reddish tint showing through the brown coloration. The larvae live 

 in bamboo joints, the water in which teems with infusoria, small 

 worms and other micro-organisms. It would appear as if this fauna 

 is essential to their well-being, for if isolated too young they die or 

 do not mature well. The larval period seems to take a long time." 

 Mr. F. C Pratt has observed a similar red coloration in the larvae of 

 signifer, but we had heretofore attributed to it a pathological signi- 

 ficance. Probably it is normal to the genus. 



