140 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER VII 



C. imjjellens, to which they present a close resemblance. 

 On this account I have named the species An. cuUcifacies 

 sp. n. On the other hand, I suspect that C. mivieticus, Noe 

 simulates Anopheles, not only in costume, but in its habitual 

 position when at rest, though I have seen too few living 

 specimens to be sure. It must be remembered that these 

 remarks refer to habitual attitudes only, and that there 'is 

 nothing absolute in the application of any natural history 

 rule of the kind, so that there is nothing noteworthy, as 

 some writers appear to have imagined, in finding an indi- 

 vidual Ciilex with its tail cocked in the air, or an Anopheles 

 with the abdomen drooping ; for being living animals, they 

 may be occasionally found in any possible position, however 

 characteristic certain particular poses may be of their usual 

 ways. 



When the season favourable for active existence and 

 breeding is over, the majority, at any rate of species, proceed 

 to find some suitable shelter, in which they may lay up, 

 protected from cold and injury, till the return of spring, or, 

 at the least, the surviving impregnated females do so. In 

 Northern Europe and similar climates this appears to be the 

 sole provision for the maintenance of the species through the 

 winter, and the males rarely or never hybernate ; but in the 

 south, as we have seen, this means is supplemented by the 

 hybernating of the larvae as well ; while in really tropical 

 regions there is no interval of inactivity, at any rate from 

 cold. 



There can be no doubt, however, that not only cold, but 

 other climatic conditions unfavourable to the free multipli- 

 cation of a species, such as intense heat with drought, cause 

 Mosquitoes to retire into a similar condition of inactivity, as 

 the truth of the suggestion advanced in the first edition of 

 this book to that eifect has been amply verified by my 

 observations during the past year in India. There can, 

 in fact, be no other way of accounting for the absolute 

 disappearance from public ken, for long periods, of certain 

 species, such as the Stegomyiie, which are active only for 

 certain limited seasons. The larvae are certainly not con- 

 cerned in the matter, as none of the kind are to be found. 



