/ ^ - ; ^ 3 5" 



537. 

 CULEX GUTTATUS. 



The white spotted Gnat or Mosquito. 



Order Diptera. Fam. Culicidae. 



Type of the Genus, Culex pipiens Linn. 

 CuLEx Linn., Fab., Lat., Meig., Curt., &c. 



Antenna attached to the internal margin of the eyes, shorter 

 than the proboscis, porrected, lo-jointed in the males, basal 

 joint stout and globose, 12 following short and obovate, gra- 

 dually increasing in length, each producing a ruff of very long 

 fine hairs, 14th and 15th long, slender and pubescent, the latter 

 rather the shortest and attenuated, each with a few long hairs 

 at the base (3) : setaceous pubescent and 14-jointed in the fe- 

 males, basal joint large globose, the remainder elongated, each 

 producing a few long hairs at the base (3 9). 

 Trophi of equal length, excepting the female palpi. 

 Labrum rather broad, hollow, margined and acute (B^b). 

 Tongue like a fine hair (c) ; wanting in the male. 

 Mandibles as long as the lip, thick at the back with a fine mar- 

 gin, very acute and a little dilated before the apex and ap- 

 parently serrated (d) ; none in the male. 



Maxilla very delicate flaccid and filmy, a little dilated at the 

 base (e), from whence arise the Palpi, which are poiTected and 

 clothed with scales, pilose, clavate, very short and 5. ''-jointed in 

 the female (/), 1st joint membranous at the base, 2nd small, 

 3rd clavate, 4th the longest and stoutest, subclavate, oth a tu- 

 bercle at the apex: longer than the proboscis in the rnale (fS), 

 clavate, clothed with scales and very hairy on the inside, 6-jointed, 

 first 2 joints short, 3rd long and slender, 4th the longest, clavate, 

 5th and 6th of nearly equal length, rather shorter than the 4th ; 

 the terminal one being the broadest, elliptical and less hairy on 

 the inside than the 2 preceding joints. 



Labium long and hollow, receiving the trophi, excepting the 

 palpi, hairy outside, terminated by 2 lobes, with a minute one 

 between them at the apex {g). 

 Head 5?wa//, subglobose: eyes la^-ge meeting above, luiiular, being emar- 

 ginate on the inside at the insertion of the antenna : ocelli none. 

 Thorax ovate: scutellum semicircular. Abdomen slender, sublinear, 

 terminated by 2 lobes in the males. Wings longer than the body, 

 incumbent, subelliptic, densely ciliated, the nervures scaly (9). Legs 

 long and slender, especially the hind pair : tarsi long and 5 -jointed, 

 basal joint very long, terminal the shortest in the posterior : claws 

 small and acute. 

 Larvae and Pupse living in the water : vide Kleeman tab. XV. 



GuTTATus Meg. } — Curt. Guide, Gen. 1137. 5^. 



In the Cabinets of Mr. Cooper and the Author. 



Probably there is no region free from Mosquitos, under which 

 appellation are comprised various species of the genus Culex 

 — the genuine Gnats of this country : even in the Arctic re- 

 gions, Capt. James Ross and his companions were compelled 



