REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 305 



such data as I have at hand it seems that the eggs begin to hatch 

 during the early days of March and that the larv^se grow quite 

 rapidly at first, as though they might produce the earhest aduhs. 

 But they Hnger in the last stage, and the first pupae require from 

 five to nine days to mature. 



Eggs of aurifer have not been obtained by me; but there 

 seems little doubt that they are laid like those of canadensis, 

 though probably different in form. The water is drawn from 

 the bogs before the aurifer adults disappear, hence the eggs must 

 be laid in the bog mud, where they rest until they become water 

 covered again in late, fall and hatch in the spring following. I 

 have no e^•idence that there is more than one brood of this species. 

 The pupa is recognizable from that of canadciisis by its decidedly 

 larger size and white air tubes. 



CULEX PIPIENS, LINN. 



The House or Rain-barrel Mosquito. 



Small or medium in size, brown or yellowish in color, with 

 rather narrow, but well-defined white bands at the base of the 

 abdominal segments ; legs and beak unhanded and the wings 

 unspotted. 



Description of tJie Adult. 



This is a mosquito of medium size, though small individuals 

 are common. It ranges from 4 to ^y2 mm. ,=.16-22 of an inch 

 in length exclusive of the beak, which is about half the length 

 of the body. The wings expand 7 to 10 mm., according to the 

 size of the insect. The head behind the large black eyes is 

 brown, with a few yellowish scales and a distinct yellow border 

 to the eyes; the beak is brown, darker toward the apex, and is 

 somewhat thicker and shorter in the male than the female. The 

 palpi (fig. 96, 2) in the female are fuscous grayish at the 

 extreme apex and apparently three jointed, the terminal one 

 pointed and wholly retracted within the third joint ; the antennae 

 are dark brown. In the male the antennae are ochraceous brown, 

 the palpi of the same color, whitish beneath at the bases of the 

 two apical joints; as in C. rnelanurus they are not dilated, but the 

 two terminal joints are comparatively much longer and the basal 

 joint shorter. 



20 MO 



