1907] 
KXAB -AXOP/IELES PUXCTII'EX.MS SA V 
:i 
.sound of the voice in conversation would, at tlie first shock, ])reci])itate the entire 
swarm about a foot, and tlie inos((uitoes would continue in ra|)id and coid'u.sed 
movement wliile the sjteakino; continued, d'his elfect could he noticed even when 
one spoke in ((iiite a low voice, and a pistol-shot, ])erha[)s half a mile off, precipitated 
the swarm in the same manner. When silence was restored the swarm immediately 
resumed its normal flight. The e.xpcriment was repeated many times and each 
time the effect was instantaneous. 
At about 5. .'30 the swarm began to diminish, the males flying off singly into the 
air. Very often a male wouhl start off with a hesitating llight, and after flying 
some di.stance and hovering about as if reluctant to leave, would again return into 
the swarm. .\t last the swarm was reduced t{> three males which remained for 
.some time, and at the la.st a single male remained, continuing his evolutions alone 
for fully three minutes, when, at .n.d.'), he too flew off. 
A curious circumstance was the ])resence, on both occasions, of a swarm of 
minute riiironomidae in clo.se proximity to the swarm of Anopliclrx. Mr. 1). W. 
(’(Mluillett kindly determineil the.se as AblabeKmi/ta pilosetla Loew. While these 
did not mingle with the swarm of Anopheles they were as close as they could be with- 
out interference. Apparently the s])ot which the Anopheles had fixed u])on had the 
same attraction for them. This swarm seemed likewise to be compo.sed wholly of 
males. 
It seems remarkable that the attitude taken by Anopheles in co|)nlation, end to 
end and facing in op|)osite directions, is identical with that of ('ule.v pipiens. This 
remarkable agreement is significant when the .structure of the tarsal claws is consid- 
ered. In both forms it is pratically the same and all the claws of the female are 
simple. In both ca.ses the legs are not made u.se of in the co]>ulatory act itself but 
only in the preliminary scuffle. Dr. II. G. Dyar has found that ('ulisetn consobrhnis, 
another form with simple claws and (juite a di.stinct generic type, takes the same 
position in copulation. It is fair to a.ssume that this is the mode of copulation in all 
the forms in which the female has sim|)le claws. On the other hand it appexirs that 
in those forms in which the female has toothed claws the position in copulation is 
face to face, the ]>air clas])ing each other. The writer can confirm Goeldi’s obser- 
vation that Stegomi/ia raloj)us copulates in this manner. Dr. Dyar has observed 
the same method of co|)ulation in Aedes varlpnlpus Co(|. ( )uc cannot avoid the 
inference that the difference in the structure of the claws is closely correlated with 
the mode of copulation. It would a]>pear then that the structure of the claws is 
a purely adaptive one and therefore it cannot be considered of the deep classifi- 
catory significance attributed to it by Mr. ('ocptillett (Science, n. s., XXIII, j>. 312, 
