Notes on the Commoner Species 175 



only after midsummer. It is confined to the eastern 

 United States. The females bit but once and laid 

 one raft, averaging forty-one eggs, the mass floating 

 with the middle partly under water. The boat 

 hatches in a day and will not stand drying, hence the 

 species probably winters as adults. The larval stage 

 lasts from nine to twelve days. The larvae feed at 

 the top, sometimes partly rotating the head to 

 skim the surface but generally doubling backward to 

 do so. They move slowly and intermittently by a 

 jerk of the tail (not of the whole body), being 

 apparently sluggish in disposition and not easily 

 frightened. The body is generally held nearly paral- 

 lel with the surface of the water— they might perhaps 

 be taken for Anopheles were it not for the breathing 

 tube. The adults will live sixteen days. They have 

 a habit of standing with the body held high from the 

 surface, the hind legs, which are very long, bent 

 obliquely over the back. Two other species of the 

 genus, socialis and lowii, are also found at Baton 

 Rouge. These appear to be entirely southern in 

 range, while sapphirina is found in New York State. 

 In life history and habits they seem to be like 

 sapphirina. 



Psorophora ciliata and howardii. — These are 

 giants among mosquitoes (Fig. 9, page 53), being 

 from 8 to 10 mm. in length, and are able to puncture 

 clothing to an alarming degree — through coat, vest, 

 and two shirts, as Dr. Smith says. He further states 

 that they do not attack in swarms in New Jersey, but 

 once I met a swarm in a cane-field. They bit furi- 

 ously right through my coat, and I was glad to get 



