11 



mosquitoes appeared on the Tth of July, 1869, in extraordinary 

 abundance, and of Dr. E. Sterling, of Cleveland, Ohio, who sent us an 

 account of the appearance of mosquitoes b}^ thousands in March, 1814, 

 when he was on a snowshoe trip from Mackinaw to Sault Stc. Marie. 

 Their extraordinary' appearanc(^ at that season of the year was remark- 

 able as indicating- a most plentiful hibernation. Mr. H. Stewart, of 

 North Carolina, was also quoted as noticing, on the north shore of 

 Lake Superior, in 1866, in the warm days of March, when the snow was 

 several feet deep and the ice on the lake 5 feet in thickness, that mos- 

 quitoes appeared in swarms, "literally blackening the banks of snow 

 in the sheltered places." Dr. Otto Lugger was also quoted as stating 

 that Calex co7imhrmus made its appearance in April, 1896, at St. 

 Anthony Park, Minnesota, in a genuine swarm with a heavy snow- 

 storm, at a time when all the lakes were covered with ice. 



Dr. Lugger has also called the writer's attention to the fact that Dr. 

 Emile Bessels, of the Polaris expedition, was obliged to interrupt his 

 work in Davis Straits (latitude 72° N.) on account of the multitude of 

 these insects. 



Length of life of the advlt inosquito. — A curious and as yet unex- 

 plained point in regard to a phase of mosquito existence is their extra- 

 ordinary abundance at certain times upon dr}^ prairies miles from water, 

 which has led to the very generally accepted idea among far Western- 

 ers that all mosquitoes do not need pools of stagnant water in which to 

 breed, but that certain of them must have some other l)reeding habit. 

 This supposition still appears incredible to the writer, who is much 

 more inclined to attribute this abundance in dry regions to a greater 

 longevity on the part of the adult mosquitoes of certain species than 

 has been proven, thus enabling these great swarms to live from one 

 rainy spell to another, no matter how widelv separated. The gravid 

 females of most insects seem to be able to live until they have oppor- 

 tunity for appropriate oviposition. The writer is frequently asked as 

 to the duration of the adult stage of mosquitoes, but be\-ond the 

 statement that although adults hibernate, living in this condition from 

 November until April or May in the latitude of Washington, he is 

 obliged to state that they die rather quickly in confinement in the 

 summer. He has had living specimens of Anopheles (jucidrhnaculatux 

 confined in breeding jars for eight days, all dying, however, at the 

 expiration of that time. Dr. Woldert has kept adults for fifteen days 

 in a wide-mouthed bottle in which was placed a small slice of banana, 

 the gauze with which the bottle was covered being sprinkled every 

 day. Other specimens were kept from fifty to sixty days, but this 

 was in the late fall, and many of them would probably have hiber- 

 nated. Dr. Manson states that they may be kept for weeks in a glass 

 vessel containing a piece of ripe l)anana, the banana being renewed 

 every three or four days. 



