io Mosquitoes 



are longer than those of the two other pairs. On 

 the front and middle legs they are about equal. 

 The tarsal joints are often banded with white, gen- 

 erally at the base, frequently at the tips. Sometimes 

 the bands are both basal and apical, and occasionally 

 one or more of the tarsal joints are ringed in the 

 middle, or are wholly white. The last joint bears a 

 pair of claws which Arribalzaga ('91) and Coquillett 

 ('95) found to be of great importance in classification, 

 accordingly as they are toothed or not toothed in 

 one or both sexes of a species. The claws may also 

 differ in this respect on the different pairs of feet in 

 the same species. 



The abdomen consists of eight distinct joints. The 

 last joint in the male bears the harpes and claspers 

 (Plate II., Fig. b, p. 8), in the female it bears the 

 ovipositor. The male genitalia sometimes possess 

 distinct specific characters. The fifth and sixth joints 

 of the abdomen are usually the longest, the seventh 

 being decidedly narrower than the sixth, and the 

 eighth is often obscure. The first is frequently very 

 short. The joints may possess basal or apical colour- 

 bands, one or both, formed by scales; may have 

 lateral spots, or a stripe down the middle. They 

 are generally lighter beneath. The chitin is covered 

 with appressed scales, which are often mixed with 

 slender hairs. 



Eggs. — The eggs of mosquitoes possess specific 

 differences, just as do the larvae and pupae, except, 

 apparently, in the case of the raft eggs. We have 

 examined the just hardened eggs of nearly half the 

 species of this country, and although the characters 



