ON THP: distribution of the CULICIDiE 241 



of an entire group. I understand from Mr. Theobald, 

 that ah-eady some thirty or forty more new forms have 

 turned up, which will necessitate the early issue of a con- 

 siderable appendix to the two heavy volumes already in 

 the press ; so that in place of the 242 species, good, bad, 

 and indifferent, of the first edition, we have at least 800, 

 whose validity is hardly likely to be questioned. More- 

 over, as there remain large areas from which no collections 

 have been received, a total of 500 species as the actual total 

 is certainly an underestimate, and I should not be surprised 

 were it found to rival that of the butterflies. 



The remarkably wide distribution attained by certain 

 species such as Steg. fasciaia, Fabr, (C. t(Bniata, Meig.) 

 has been found to be further illustrated in a most striking 

 way by those of many other species, certain of which have 

 reached the British Museum from the most widely distant 

 parts of the globe. A notable instance of this is G. cantans, 

 Meig., a well-known European species, which is now known 

 to be common in Northern America, from the " States" to 

 Manitoba, though this would hardly prepare one to find it 

 in the Nehilgerri hills of Southern India, from which un- 

 expected habitat specimens were sent me by Dr. Price, 

 of Conoor. Another curious example is that of G. tigripes, 

 De Grandpre et De Charmoy, Bancroft's "long-lived" 

 Mosquito, which occurs not only in Australia, but in 

 Southern and Central Africa ; and what is even more 

 curious, this is by no means the only case of Africa and 

 Australia being coupled together as the sole residences of 

 a single species. 



While, however, many species of Mosquitoes have a very 

 wide distribution in longitude, their range in latitude is 

 always much more limited ; the only apparent exceptions 

 to this rule being cases such as that of G. cantanfi, in 

 Southern India, where colonies of forms peculiar to the 

 temperate zone are found at considerable elevations above 

 the sea ; Conoor, where the specimens were taken by Dr. 

 Price, being some 2,000 metres above the sea level, and 

 enjoying a climate exactly similar to that of the other 

 localities in which the species has been found. G, mime- 

 16 



