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A REVISION OF THE MOSQUITOS OF THE PALAEARCTIC REGION. 



By F. W. Edwards. 

 {Published by permission of the Trustees of the British Mtiseutii.) 



For some years after the intensive study of mosquitos began in tropical countries, 

 surprisingly little interest was taken in the European species, particularly those of 

 Northern Europe. Ficalbi had published his monographic revision in 1896-99, 

 but from then until 1914 very little further had been done ; the adults were assumed 

 to be more or less known, though very few of the larvae had been described. Since 

 1914, however, a great deal of work has been done all over Europe, bionomic as well 

 as systematic, and considerable advances have been made in every branch of our 

 knowledge of these insects. 



The present paper was commenced early in 1919, with the study of a number of 

 large collections received at the British Museum from Italy (Mr. E. Hargreaves), 

 Macedonia (Capt. J. Waterston), Palestine and Mesopotamia (Capt. P. J. Barraud), 

 and Egypt (Major E. E. Austen). Shortly afterwards a correspondence with 

 Dr. Wesenberg-Lund, of Copenhagen, made it evident that there were many more 

 species in Northern Europe than had previously been supposed. I therefore 

 determined to attempt a revision of the Palaearctic mosquito fauna, and with this 

 end in view wrote to the Dipterists in charge at various continental museums, as 

 well as some private collectors, for the loan of material for determination or re- 

 determination. Collections were sent in response to my requests by Dr. R. Frey, 

 Helsingfors Museum ; Dr. E. Bergroth, Jamsa, Finland ; Dr. Y. Sjostedt, Stockholm 

 Museum ; Dr. Wesenberg-Lund, Hillerod, Denmark ; Dr. G. Enderlein, Berlin 

 Zoological Museum ; Dr. W. Horn, Berlin-Dahlem Entomological Museum ; Herren 

 L. Oldenberg and B. Lichtwardt, Berhn ; M. E. Seguy, Paris Museum ; Dr. H. 

 Zerny, Vienna Museum ; Dr. K. Kertesz, Budapest Museum ; Prof. M. Bezzi, Turin ; 

 and odd specimens were also received from Dr. Lundbeck, Copenhagen Museum ; 

 and Dr. E. Martini, Hamburg. A further valuable collection was sent by Mr. S. 

 Yamada from Japan in 1916, and additional Japanese and Chinese collections were 

 made by Dr. W. A. Lamborn in 1921. To all who have helped me in this way 

 I wish to express due thanks, as also to other correspondents and colleagues for help 

 in other ways. 



The publication by Dr. E. Martini of his admirable paper, " Uber Stechmiicken," 

 in August 1920, and by Dr. Wesenberg-Lund of his equally excellent treatise on 

 Danish mosquitos early in 1921, have to a great extent covered the ground which 

 it was intended to investigate in this paper, and have also gone much further in 

 giving an account of the life-history of the majority of the European species. The 

 present paper, while not claiming to make any very considerable further contribution 

 to our knowledge of these species, will serve to correlate and summarise the results 

 of these and other workers, and by including the whole Mediterranean region give a 

 rather more comprehensive view of the subject. 



The geographical limits adopted here are those most usually given to the Palae- 

 arctic region, i.e., Europe, North Africa, as far south as the tropic ; the Atlantic 

 Islands ; Asia Minor ; North Arabia, including the head of the Persian Gulf ; North 



