Twelfth Report of the State Entomologist 321 



Number of Species. 



Although exceedingly numerous in individuals, occurring at times in 

 localities in swarms so immense that they have been mistaken for clouds 

 or smoke, the CulicidcE are not very numerous in species. In a catalogue 

 by Mr. Walker, formerly of the British Museum, published in 1874, 

 one hundred and fifty-eight species from all parts of the world are given. 

 Of these, the North American species comprise about one-fourth of the 

 number, for in the last published catalogue, that of Baron Osten 

 Sacken, in 1878, forty-two species are recorded as belonging to North 

 America, arranged in the five generaof Megarrhina, Culex,Anopheles,Aedes 

 and CoretJira* The specific names that designate many of these have a 

 merit that does not always attach to our scientific nomenclature — that 

 of being appropriate and characteristic. For example, we find the fol- 

 lowing names in t^'e list of species of Culex, each one of which we 

 may presume, has been bestowed afcer experimental test of its fitness, as 

 they lead us up the gamut by harmonious gradations from the initiative 

 Culex pmictor, to puns^eiiSj and on to stimulaus, pertnrbatis, pi'ovocanSj 

 impatiens, implacabilis, excitans, exa'ucians, and culminating in Culex 

 damnosus ! The last is applied to the notable " gallinipper" of the 

 southern swamps, which is said, but I do not vouch for the truth, to be 

 capable of boring with its proboscis through a leather boot. 



It is not probable that in the numbers above given, we have an 

 approximation to the real number of species. The family, for some rea- 

 son, has been but little studied. When I applied a short time ago to 

 the gentleman who is the best authority that we have among us on the 

 Diptera, for the names of a few of our more common species represented 

 in my collection, he was unable to determine them for me. Another 

 of our distinguished entomologists who enjoys a brilliant European repu- 

 tation from his long residence in Europe could not decide the question 

 which I propounded to him — does Culex pipiens of Europe, the type of 

 the genus, occur in North America, to which it has been credited. 



Distribution. 

 Every known part of the globe has its peculiar species of the mosquito. 

 They are endowed with power to resist any degree of cold and to endure 

 extreme heat. They particularly swarm in the tropics where they often 



* Dr. L. O. Howard, in a paper published the present year (i8q6), has recorded twenty species 

 of mosquitoes belonging to the United States, which had been examined by D. W. Coquillett, of 

 the Division of Entomology at Washington, accompanied with a list of ten additional species, 

 which had not been examined for verification. (See BiiH. 4, Neif Series, U. S. Def>t. of Agricul., 

 Division 0/ Entomology.) 



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