218 Journal New York Entomological Society, [Voi. xv. 



Several points are brought out by these data. The life of the male 

 mosquito does not, at the most, extend over more than two weeks. 

 The males do not appear to take food until after the period of swarm- 

 ing or copulation, nor, in spite of the food taken, do they survive long 

 after the mating period. The females probably only resort to flowers 

 when very hungry and blood is not obtainable. It should be borne 

 in mind that these deductions apply in particular to Aedes spenceri. 

 Now that we are more familiar with the habits of individual species of 

 mosquitoes it is obvious that no statements which apply generally can 

 be made from observations on the habits of one species. Thus, 

 according to Dr. Graenicher's observations, the females of Aedes 

 sylvestris visit flowers in equal numbers with the males. This species, 

 although a well-known blood-sucker,' is not so agressive and persistent 

 in its quest for blood as Aedes spenceri. Moreover it is crepuscular in 

 habit and therefore most abundant on the flowers in the evening, 

 w^hile Aedes j/'<?;/r<?// frequents them during the day. Aedes soUicitaiis, 

 both sexes of which have been observed by Smith upon flowers, is 

 noted as a most persistent blood-sucker. In fact in all the species 

 recorded in the foregoing as flower visitors the females suck blood. 

 In these hfematophagous females the nectar of flowers may be con- 

 sidered as a supplementary food which prevents starvation when blood 

 is not available. With the males nectar appears to be the natural 

 food. It is hardly to be supposed that species of mosquitoes limit 

 themselves to particular flowers nor is there any structuial modification 

 that would indicate adaptation to certain flowers, such as exists, for 

 example, in the flower-visiting Hymenoptera. The great diversity of 

 flowers visited by mosquitoes bears this out. With the mosquitoes it 

 is probably merely a question of easy accessibility of the nectar and 

 also of the season in which a particular species of mosquito makes its 

 appearance. As the appearance of many species of mosquitoes is 

 regulated by conditions of rainfall which vary from year to year, the 

 flowers available to a given species cannot always be the same. 



There are a considerable number of species of mosquitoes which 

 do not suck blood at all and of the feeding habits of these we know 

 nothing. Such are a few of our common species. The little pitcher- 

 plant mosquito, Wyeomyia smithii Q,0(\., does not suck blood. Neither 

 does Culex territans Walk., a very common species throughout the 

 summer in eastern North America. Culex meianuriis Coq. apparently 

 does not bite. These species probably obtain nourishment from plants 



