238 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES— CHAPTER IX 



means so common as in many apparently less favourable 

 localities ; for in Holland drainac^e is a primary necessity 

 of occupation, and the domestic neatness of the people is 

 proverbial. 



With the exception of a few rarely visited islands, 

 there are few parts of the world whence the Culicidce have 

 not been recorded, and indeed their constant association 

 with man makes it almost impossible for any country that 

 is much frequented to long escape their importation, as 

 apart from their being carried in the larval state in ships' 

 tanks, their habit of hybernation, and of harbouring in 

 draperies while in that condition, makes their introduction 

 a very easy matter. 



Mr. R. M'Lachlan, in his notes on the insects of Captain 

 Fielden's Arctic Expedition, mentions a species of Culex, 

 which, he says, may be C. caspius, Pallas, as identified by 

 Curtis in the insects of Koss's Voyage (p. G6). Schiodle 

 identifies the same species with C. nigripes, Zett. The 

 latter, according to Staegel, occurs also in Greenland, and 

 is the same as C. pipiens 0. Fabricius, nee Linne (" Fauna 

 Greenland," p. 201). 



The late Professor H. N. Moseley, during the "Chal- 

 lenger " Expedition, described a species of " wingless 

 Culex " from Kerguelen's Island (" Proc. Linn. Soc," XII., 

 p. 578), but it is almost needless to say that the identifica- 

 tion was a wrong one, as a wingless insect would not be a 

 gnat. 



In the beginning of the century, the " Nouveau Dic- 

 tionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle," Tome VIII., Paris, 1817, 

 states that only some fifteen species, mostly European, of 

 the family were known, but since then the number has 

 steadily increased. 



Schiner, " Reise der Novara," notes that 182 species of 

 the family had been described (up to 1868). Of these 30 

 are European, 61 American, 21 Asiatic, 10 African, and 9 

 Australian, with one of unknown origin. 



In 1889, Skuse estimated the number of described species 

 at 160, including no less than 21 new Australian forms 

 included in his paper ("S. A. C," p. 1,717); and subsequent 



