112 INSECUTOR INSCITI^ MENSTRUUS 



NOTES ON THE SPECIES OF CULEX OF THE 

 BAHAMAS 



By HARRISON G. DYAR and FREDERICK KNAB 



Dr. Dyar visited the Island of New Providence in the 

 Bahamas for his health early in 1915. A few observations 

 that he was able to make seem worthy of record. 



The two species of mosquitoes commonly associated with 

 man in the tropics, Culex quinquefasciatus Say and Aedes 

 calopus Meigen^ were abundant and troublesome. They bred 

 together in artificial receptacles, such as rain-barrels and tubs 

 and other collections of water, but not in any of the cisterns 

 or wells. They were found only in the towns. With them 

 was a psychodid, Psychoda alb {punctata Will., its black larvae 

 occurring associated in nearly every culture. Outside of the 

 towns, in holes in coral rock containing water, three species 

 of Culex were found breeding: 



Culex similis Theobald. 



The larvse occurred in every pool, including wells in rock, 

 drainage ditches from the road, and puddles in mud in a man- 

 grove swamp, all, however, permanent water in an essentially 

 natural condition. Females came to bite in the immediate 

 vicinity of the pools, but were not taken in town. This species 

 and C. quinquefasciatus did not occur in the same water in 

 any instance under observation, as has elsewhere been ob- 

 served to be the case (See Howard, Dyar and Knab, Mosq. 

 No. and Centr. Amer. and W. Ind., iii, p. 342, 1915), nor was 

 the water in any case foul, but frequently perfectly clear and 

 cold. It would appear that C. similis prefers such clear nat- 

 ural pools and is only forced into foul water and an association 

 with C. quinquefasciatus by scarcity of its preferred breeding 

 places. 



Culex aseyehae, new species. 



Female. Proboscis moderately long, nearly uniform, brown- 

 ish black scaled throughout. Palpi short, black scaled. Occi- 

 put black, clothed with rather sparse, narrow curved, creamy 

 yellow scales, denser along median line, and two patches of 



