128 NOTES ON A BRUSH-TONGUED MOSQUITO 



the tip of the channel of the larger lancet. In the head 

 of the insect is found the pump, or aesophagial bulb, by 

 which blood is drawn in other kinds of mosquitoes from 

 their victims, but its size and muscular force might be 

 insufficient to raise denser fluids, such as nectar, without 

 the help of the hairy expansion on the end of the repre- 

 sentative of the lancet. The probability is, therefore, 

 this species, and most likely the group, are purely vegetable 

 feeders, obtaining their food in apis modo, and are therefore 

 harmless to man. 



The cornea of the eye is of a denser structure than 

 usual. The halteres are small in size, pale yellow ; near 

 the base on the anterior side, there is a triangular space 

 filled with oval cells, united at their longer axis ; above this, 

 near the knob, is a stiff oval ring protecting a softer mass, 

 which divides into two elongated lobes by a deep central 

 fissure, the rim being bordered by minute hairs. These 

 organs are richly supplied with nerves, and are doubtless 

 organs of some special sense not yet understood. There 

 are strong grounds for thinking that insects have senses 

 differing widely from those possessed by man. 



The terminal segment of the male body terminates 

 in two slender hooks, and they are tipped by a straight 

 moveable rod arising out of a shallow trench. 



I take the following description of the male insect 

 from Skuse : — Antennae brown, a little more than half 

 the length of the palpi ; basal joint black, with horny 

 reflections ; second joint more than twice the length of 

 the third, ornamented with some beautifully iridiscent 

 scales, the whorl of very long hairs situated about one-third 

 from the apex. Head covered with brilliant margaritaceoufc 

 scales, chiefly reflecting green ; in a certain light appearing 

 brown, with a bright pale greenish line round the hinder 

 border of the eyes. Proboscis somewhat longer than the 

 palpi, deej) metallic blue, with a purplish reflection before 

 the bend, brown beyond. Palpi deep metallic blue, with 

 purplish reflections, the third joint ringed with golden 

 yellow at the apex, and the fourth joint with a broader^ 

 ring of the same beyond the middle. Thorax brown, the 

 lateral margins and pro thorax densely covered with pale 

 greenish scales, the latter with long brown hairs ; hinder 

 margin and scutellum richly adorned with brilliantly 



