58 



CHAPTER IV. 



The Generic Characters of the Larvae of the Culicidae. 



The number of species which have been followed 

 through their complete metamorphoses is, as already re- 

 marked, very small. In the case of the genus Megarhinay 

 I can find no record of nuy observation whatever on this 

 subject, while in JEdes the only note met with is one by 

 Osten-Sacken, on Mdes fuscus, an American species, and this 

 is of the most cursory description, all that is said being that 

 they exactly resemble the larvae of Gulex, except that they 

 are smaller. Putting then aside Megarhina, the larvae of the 

 various genera maybe divided into two categories, according 

 as to whether they possess a dorsal respiratory process to 

 the eighth abdominal segment or not. In the first category 

 are Ciilex, jEdes, and Mochlonyx ; in the second Anopheles, 

 and Corethra. Amongst those possessing the respiratory 

 dorsal process, the larva of Culex has already been sufti- 

 ciently described : of ^des nothing more can be said, and 

 of those sufficiently described, only the larvae of Mochlonyx 

 remain to be described. I have actually handled the larvae 

 of Culex, Stegomyia, and Anopheles only, and the notes 

 given below are almost entirely a pri'cis of Fr. Meinert's 

 paper, " De Encephale Myggelarver " (Vidensk Selsk., 6, 

 Kaekke, Naturvidensk, og mathem. Afd. iii., 4). 



Genus Mochlonyx. — Meinert's remarks apply in especial 

 to M. culiciformis, which formed the subject of his in- 

 vestigations. The full-grown larva is of a light brown 

 colour, the tracheae and air sacs often showing through the 

 skin with a golden lustre. On the dorsum of the thorax 

 are several small, dull white spots, and the pleurae and 

 venter are whitish. After each change of skin the colour 



