34 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



I rarely have sdllicitans on the second story porch of my house, 

 though the one below may be swarming; but occasionally some 

 examples do get up. Cantator rises much more readily; but 

 when there are many specimens I feel reasonably certain that 

 pipiens is the offender. The principal flights begin just at dusk 

 and become more marked until it is fully dark. On ordinary 

 nights a falling ofif begins at about 9 oclock and few specimens 

 are felt after 10. On sultry or very quiet nights the movement 

 may last until midnight and there seems to be a somewhat less 

 marked motion in the early morning. These facts have been 

 noted by several of my correspondents as well, and Mr. Brake- 

 ley's observations have been especially full, because of his habit 

 of sitting up until after midnight and making occasional trips 

 outdoors to note conditions. Frequently he has found the in- 

 sects in great quantities during the early evening and has stood 

 for several minutes late at night in the same places without noting 

 a single example. Yet on going outdoors just at or soon after 

 sunrise, he has been met by specimens ready to attack. 



As to actual powers of flight, the species, and even the sexes, 

 differ. Males rarely fly except in very quiet evenings, and their 

 flight is largely a hover, suitable for the mating, but not for great 

 progress. Yet cantator males accompany the females for some 

 distance inland : much further than male sollicitans ever does. 



I have watched sollicitans carefully on many occasions and 

 find that it flies quite readily against even a brisk wind and 

 makes good progress. I have placed myself several times in an 

 alley in the direct line of the wind, and have watched the insect 

 come sailing against it without hesitation or apparent effort. I 

 have driven at quite a rapid pace over infested roads and found 

 that the specimens hovering over the horse and along the car- 

 riage had no difficulty in keeping up. I have been on a steam 

 launch which was followed by a mosquito swarm more than five 

 miles across an open stretch of water. The specimens were not in 

 the launch for much of the time, because every effort was made 

 to drive them out and keep them on the wing, which, as the boat 

 was small, was an easy matter. Five or six miles an hour 

 against an ordinary wind, or nearly double that when with a 

 mild wind, I consider quite within the range of sollicitans or can- 

 tator. 



Mr. Brakeley records a perturhans that was allowed to become 

 blood filled and fly. It was during the early evening, quite light 

 enough to follow the flight for a hundred feet or more, and the 

 rate at which that space was covered by this fully fed female was 

 a revelation ! "At that gait she would make a mile in no time," 

 was Mr. Brakeley's comment. It would be easy to detail obser- 



