74 NOTES ON THE " SOOTS GRAY " MOSQUITO 



the mandibles on whose root the cup is placed. The cup 

 measures the five-hundredth part of an inch across from edge to 

 edge and its open mouth is directed towards the body. Fig. 20 

 represents it. Thence it passes into a fine tube running down 

 the centre of the mandible to the point, where ic is discharged 

 into the puncture. The injecting power is found, I think, in the 

 muscular lining of the cup, which spreads out to embrace the 

 end of the poison tube, thus forming a little reservoir for the 

 poison until it is ready for injection. Fig. 21 shows the tip of 

 this mandible with the central tube, also the tip of the larger 

 lancet through which the blood passes. 



Attached to the lower end of the bulb are the gullet, stomach 

 and intestines, also there springs from it a large transparent air 

 sac filled with globules of air. This lies in the lower part of the 

 thorax extending into the abdomen. These are seen in fig. 22. 

 The stomach is very large and muscular ; it is separable into 

 five distinct coats, and from its lower end arise five long blind 

 tubes. These contain a number of glandular bodies and are 

 believed to fufil similar functions to the liver in animals. 



Proceeding from the stomach is the intestinal canal. It is 

 long in this species and is usually found contracted into longi- 

 tudinal folds. Is ear the anus it expands into a pear shape and 

 within this cavity lie, attached to the inner wall, half-a-dozen 

 curious bodies each shapen like a heart. Their functions are 

 not yet known, see fig. 23. On each side of the intestine lie the 



Egg Sacs. 



They are filled in the unimpregnated state with little globes, 

 like two bunches of white grapes. They are well provided with 

 trachial tubes. After impregnation the eggs grow rapidly, and 

 ulti)nately fill up the whole of the abdominal cavity. This is 

 seen in fig. 24, which is a thin longitudinal slice through the 

 body of a female. The powerful muscles attached to the wings 

 are seen in the section of the thorax. The eggs here have as- 

 sumed their characteristic shape. 



The Eye 



like most other diptera, occupies the largest portion 

 of the head, and consists of a number of circular cells 



