326 F. W. EDWARDS. 



niveo-albis, corpore ex dimidio fere brevioribus/' and " pedibus anticis in apice 

 utrinque fascicule pilorum ornatis") will not apply to this or any other known 

 mosquito. 



It is quite possible that Dyar may be right in identifying C. aegyptl with this species. 

 Certainly it seems to be some Stegomyia, and A. argenteus is the only member of the 

 genus now known to occur in Egypt, but there are one or two points in the description 

 which quite definitely do not agree ; I have therefore not adopted the name. 



38. Aedes (Stegomyia) vittatus (Bigot). 



Cidex vittatus. Bigot, Ann. Soc. Ent. France, (4) i, p. 327 (1861). 



Stegomyia sugens, Theobald, Mon. Cul. i, p. 300 (1901). 



Culex sugens, Wiedemann, Aussereurop. zweifl. Ins. i, p. 545 (1828). 



The white dots on the mesonotum, together with the white-ringed tibiae and 

 tarsi, make this species an extremely easy one to recognise. The pre-apical spine 

 of the male clasper, and the position of the siphonal tuft of the larva well beyond 

 the middle, suggest that the species may have more in common with the subgenus 

 Ecculex than with other species of Stegomyia, in spite of the spineless larval antennae 

 and the slender, bare, upturned male palpi. The species affords a good illustration 

 of the difficulty of drawing any hard and fast line between the subgenera of Aedes, 

 and confirms the inclusion of all of them in one comprehensive genus. 



The larva has been recorded as occurring in rock pools. 



Distribution. — Corsica [Bigot). Also widely distributed in the Ethiopian and 

 Oriental regions, occurring as far south as Ceylon. It is remarkable that so 

 conspicuous a species has not been found in the Mediterranean region since 

 Bigot's time. 



Genus Armigeres, Theobald. 



This genus is evidently closely allied to Aedes (especially the subgenera Aedes 

 and Stegomyia), so much so that scarcely any tangible differences can be discovered 

 in the adults. The proboscis is rather short (not longer than the front femora) and 

 is slightly but distinctly stouter throughout than in Aedes; also the tip is slightly 

 but distinctly curved downwards (at least in dry specimens), which is very seldom 

 the case in Aedes. In the allied Oriental genus or subgenus Leicesteria the 

 mesonotum is somewhat produced over the head, and this tendency is slightly 

 indicated also in the typical subgenus Armigeres. The structure of the eggs and 

 manner of oviposition in Armigeres is similar to that of Aedes ; but Leicesteria 

 flava, according to Strickland, has peculiar egg-laying habits. The male clasper has 

 numerous spines, generally placed in a row (4-10 in Leicesteria, 15-20 in Armigeres). 

 Another small point of distinction ir om Aedes is that the middle claws of the male 

 are apparently always equal and simple. 



The main reason for keeping Armigeres distinct from Aedes is the structure 

 of the larval siphon, which has only a minute and often scarcely distinguishable 

 hair-tuft, and no trace of a pecten. This latter point constitutes such a sharp difference 

 ' from Aedes that the separation from that genus may be justified, in spite of the 

 feeble characterization of the adults. The anal gills are of large size and rounded 

 apically. 



The genus is endemic in the Oriental region, a single species extendmg into Japan 

 and thus claiming our attention in this paper. 



Armigeres obturbans (Walker). 



Culcx obturbans. Walker, Proc. Linn. Soc. London, iv, p. 91 (1860). 

 Culex subalbatus, Coquillett, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxi, p. 302 (1898). 



