44 THE MOSQUITOES OF NEW JERSEY 



pine area — extends up the Delaware nearly to Philadelphia; indeed, it 

 does reach the Philadelphia Neck in some seasons, and in general reaches 

 inland a distance from twenty to forty miles. Assisted by cantator, it 

 dominates the territory to the top of the first ridge of the Orange or 

 Watchung Mountains, and sometimes extends beyond to the second 

 ridge. From the Newark meadows it extends north to Paterson and 

 covers all the intermediate territory. It does not in this territory quite 

 equal cantator in number and distribution. On the marshes the species 

 appears late in April, or early in May, and usually lasts until late 

 October. 



I have seen both sexes of this species feeding on the blossoms of wild 

 cherry, and it is quite probable that vegetable juices form a consider- 

 able element in the food of this species. Howard, Dyar, and Knab record 

 the observation of Dr. C. R. Ely to the effect that Ely had taken 

 females at sugar bait when collecting moths. As to the number of broods, 

 that depends altogether upon weather and tide conditions, from five to 

 eight being, perhaps, usual. 



EGG-LAYING HABITS 



During the early summer of 1902 Mr. Dickerson and myself planted 

 a series of eight tubs on the land of the Keystone Rod and Gun Club, 

 which were meant to represent various marsh conditions, and stocked 

 these with larvae, pupae, and adults of sollicitans, covering with netting 

 to control the outcome, but leaving two open to the swarms infesting the 

 surrounding meadow. We found gravid females abundant in certain 

 places and confined a number of them in quart jars under varying con- 

 ditions. Some jars had water and some had none; some had vegetation, 

 others only bare marsh mud, and so altogether about a dozen jars were 

 prepared, each to receive from two to ten gravid females. Next morning 

 a large proportion of the jars had eggs, all of them black and laid un- 

 der so many conditions that conclusions were difficult. Another series of 

 captures, when carefully examined, led us to believe that the eggs be- 

 came black within the ovary of the female, and that they were of that 

 color when laid. 



The tub experiments, details of which need not be given, indicated 

 that the marsh mud was the place to look for the eggs of sollicitans, and 

 some pieces of sod from an old breeding area were at once secured. The 

 result was that in twelve hours we had a large brood of baby wrigglers 

 and had demonstrated, by actual observation, that the marsh mud 

 everywhere round about was more or less densely covered with mosquito 

 eggs ; most densely in the lowest, damp areas. Other observations made 



