42 



SPOLTA ZBYLANICA. 



for the malaria parasite and the vehicles by which the germ is 

 carried from one human sul^ject to another. 



Mr. Green, in the article referred to above, tabulates the principal 

 differences between Oidex and Anopheles in the following 

 manner : — 



CULEX. 



Eygs agglutinated into raft-like 

 masses. Each egg placed vertically. 



Larva with long l^reathing tube 

 at [hinder] end of body. ' Floats 

 head downwards. 



Adult innect [female] with palpi 

 much shorter than proboscis. Wings 

 usually clear and colourless. Rests 



Anopheles. 



E(/fjs separate, floating horizon- 

 tally.' 



Larra without prominent breath- 

 ing tube. Floats horizontally. 



Adult hiHcct with palpi as long as 

 prol)oscis. Wings usually spotted 

 or clouded. Tilts the body at an 

 angle to the support. 



with body parallel with support: 



The accompanying sketches, drawn from life by Mr. Green, and 

 kindly lent by him for reproduction in this Journal, show the 

 characteristic attitudes of Culex {Arniiger.es) ventralis. Walker 

 Fig. 15), and Anopheles maculata, Theobald (Fig. 16). 



Fig. 1.5. — Ciil^:r rentridis. $ . 



Fig. 1 6. — Anopheles iiiaciilata, ? . 



6. Mortality of Fishes in the Colombo Lake. — About the 7th 

 April and the following two or three days the Colombo news- 

 papers announced the appearance of large numbers of dead fish of 

 all sizes, up to as much as 2 feet in length, on the banks of the 

 Colombo lake and floating on the surface. Various explanations 

 were suggested to account for this unusual mortality, the most 

 plausible being that which connected it with the sudden change in 

 the weather and the torrential rains which fell about that time.* 



Mr. F. D. Ja3'asi.uha, Clerk of the Royal Asiatic Society and 

 Inspector of Watchers in the Museum, states that when on a visit 

 to the village of Akurala in Madampeat Easter he ascertained that 

 a similar phenomenon had been observed on 10th April in the 

 canal which crosses the village. He was told that the fish were 

 seen floating oa the surface of the water in an intoxicated state and 

 were collected by the villagers in hand nets. On questioning them 

 as to the cause ot this, Mr. Jayasinha was informed that it was 



1-77 inch in Colombo on April 6th. 



