NO. 8 ANATOMICAL LIFE OF THE MOSQUITO — SNODGRASS 



51 



The newly emerged mosquito (fig. 19) is really an elegant insect as 

 it stands high on its long slender legs, the abdomen held straight back 

 beneath the neatly folded wings, and the long proboscis extended 

 from the head. The sexes of most species are readily distinguished at 

 once by the antennae, those of the female having usually circles of 

 short hairs, those of the male being large spreading plumes. 



Fig. 19. — Aedcs aegypti, adult male. 



THE HEAD 



The head of an adult mosquito has little likeness to that of the larva. 

 It is an oval capsule (fig. 20 D) with the facial region carrying the 

 antennae directed forward, and the long proboscis extended from its 

 lower end. The sides are largely occupied by the great compound 

 eyes, which almost meet dorsally and ventrally (A,B, E). The large 

 bases of the antennae arise so close together on the face that the 

 frons is reduced to a narrow verticle bar between them (A, Fr), 

 but its lower end forks into diverging arms that support the clypeus 

 (Clp). A median coronal sulcus (cs) on the vertex extends down- 

 ward on the face through the frons. The strongly convex clypeus 

 (A,C, Clp) forms a prominent lobe just above the base of the 

 proboscis. The undersurface of the head (B) resembles that of the 



