170 iNSEcurok iNsciTiiii; mknstruus 



THE GENUS CULEX IN THE UNITED STATES 



{Diptera, Culicidcc) 



By HARRISON G. DYAR and FREDERICK KNAR 



The small species of Culex of the southern United States, 

 belonging to the groups Mclanoconion and Mochlostyrax, were 

 somewhat uncritically dealt with by us in the monograph/ 

 due to our limited material and small knowledge of the forms 

 in question and to the press of work caused by the multiplicity 

 of species before us at that time. The species may be ad- 

 vantageously considered disconnectedly from the mass of trop- 

 ical forms. 



A number of errors have crept into our work, which we 

 will first correct. In all these species the proboscis of the 

 female is moderately swollen at the tip. In dried specimens 

 the member becomes shrunken and sometimes distorted, so 

 that the character is often far from evident, especially when 

 the swelling is normally not very prominent. We were led 

 by our observations on incomplete material to classify 

 abominator and peccator under the heading "proboscis of 

 female not swollen at tip," thereby introducing two serious 

 errors. Again, erraticus, floridanus, and agitator were based 

 upon larv?e. In our zeal to complete our work, we associated 

 wrong adults in some cases. The adults assigned to erraticus 

 are correct, but we did not recognize that they are identical 

 with abominator, having already placed that species wrongly 

 in regard to the proboscis. To floridanus we wrongly assigned 

 adults of incriminator, separating them from our other in- 

 criminator by "eyes not white margined," not realizing that 

 the difference was due in part to the condition of the specimens 

 and in part to the deceptive nature of this character. The 

 white margin is formed by scales, which may be abraded, or 

 appear white or black according to the incidence of the light. 

 To agitator we assigned adults of another Cuban species be- 

 longing to MelanoconioH, whereas agitator is strictly a 

 Mochlostyrax. 



' llowaril. l\\;ir :;ti(l Kiial). 'riie Mosii. N. and Cent. .\n\. and \V. Ind., iii. 101.">. 



