^2 Miscellanea. [VOL. I, 



many small accumulations of water in pools and ditches, the houses 

 are infested with Anopheles : so much so that in December last I 

 •collected no less than 250 specimens within three hours in the 

 rest-house alone. These specimens belonged to the following 

 species : — 



A. nigerrimus (the most abundant), A. barbirostris, A. rossi^ 

 A. jamesi, and a species which is probably new. The last may be 

 described as follows : — 



A small mosquito about the size of A. jamesi. Palpi with five 

 nearly equal white bands ; the terminal band white, all distinct. 

 Proboscis whitish, with a dark band near the middle. Legs — The 

 femora and tibiae of all the legs striped alternately with white and dark 

 bands ; all the joints capped with white ; the remaining part of 

 the legs, including the tarsi, dark. Wings — The costal vein with 

 three large, dark bands and four small ones ; the first longitudinal 

 vein with three large bands and two small ones ; the second with 

 ■one band on the main trunk and two on the branches ; the third 

 with three bands ; the fourth with four bands on the main trunk, 

 three on the anterior and two on the posterior branch ; the sixth 

 with three bands. 



This species does not agree with any of the fifteen described in 

 James and Liston's Monograph of the Anopheles Mosquitoes of India, 

 being distinguished b}' the peculiar markings on the palpi wings 

 and legs. From the descriptions and figures in Theobald's Mono- 

 graph of the Culicidce of the World, so far as I can make them out, 

 it seems very much like A. punctulatus ^ Donitz, from the Malay 

 Peninsula, but I cannot be sure of the identity. 



G. C. Chatterjee. 



Anopheles larvae in Brackish Water. — James and Liston do 

 not mention the occurrence of Anopheles larvae in salt water in 

 India, and recently several observers have suggested as a means 

 of destruction of these 'arvse that sea water might be admitted 

 into pools containing them. But Mosquito larvae have been found, 

 though rarely, inhabiting salt water; for example, Theobald 

 {Mon. Cul., i, p. 36) mentions that Dr. Bancroft found larvae of 

 Culex marinus in salt-water marshes in Australia. The brackish 

 tanks at Port Canning, which also contain marine animals such as 

 Medusae and sea anemones, are full of Anopheles larvae, which are 

 found amongst filamentous algae. On examination specimens 

 proved, w'thout exception, to be larvae oi Anophel s rossi. They 

 were very abundant at the beginning of Decemlaer, the water then 

 <:ontaining 0'22 per cent, of soluble matter, but were much less so at 

 the end of the same month. I noticed that when these larvae were 

 transferred to fresh water, they at once sank and crawled about the 

 bottom of the vessel for some time. Then, by a series of muscular 

 movements, they came to the surface. There was always a ten- 

 dency for them to sink again ; whereas individuals from fresh 

 water rise to the surface by their own buoyancy, not by muscular 

 action, and do not remain at the bottom long if they sink. I 



