REPORT OX AIOSOUITOES. 



T ■'> T 



o-/ 



are l)r()\vn with patches of g-rayish white scales. The femora 

 and tibiae are very dark brown, their apices with a white spot and 

 the under sides wholly creamy white. The tarsi are all black 

 without ring-s or bands. The claws in both sexes agree with those 

 of C. pipiens, being equal and simple in the female and in the 

 posterior tarsi of the male, while those of the mid and anterior 

 pairs of the male are unequal in length with a single tooth to 

 each claw. 



The anterior is blackish brown, with narrow apical bands of 

 white, which become wide at the sides, until, beneath, it is wdiolly 

 white or o-ravish white. 



Habits of the Adult. 



Little is known of the habits of this species, though it is by no 

 means uncommon. It is not certain even that it bites, although 

 until recently I have believed that it did. I had identified this 

 species with that little black moscjuito that sometimes in mid or 

 late summer seems perfectly frantic in its attempts to get indoors, 

 and works through the meshes of the ordinary wire screen 

 without apparent difficulty. I am not certain now that this form 

 is not really an undersized brood of pipiens, forced to develop 

 prematurely by the drying out of the breeding pools. At all 

 events, even if the species is really guilty, its attacks are infre- 

 (|uent and not of long duration. 



It is not definitely known how the insect hibernates, though the 

 indication is that it does so in the Qgg stage. It is certain that 

 none of the collections of hibernating adults thus far made has 

 ]iroduced even a single example of this species. Territans is not 

 uncommon at Lahaway, yet in Mr. Brakeley's thorough collec- 

 tions in the cellars and outbuildings there it did not occur once. It 

 is also cjuite common at Bordentown ; 3'et among the hundreds of 

 mosquitoes taken there in cellars and empty houses by Mr. 

 Brakeley not an example of this form w-as found. In fact, none 

 of my collectors ever found any specimens in winter. 



Among the house collections territans occurs rarely, and Mr. 

 Brakeley reports only one specimen, July 26, 1903, in the dining- 

 room at Lahaway. Practically no specimens were in the exten- 

 sive series of collections made for me by Mr. Buchholz at Eliza- 

 beth in 1902 and 1903. In reality, there were 13 examples out 

 of 318 that seemed referable to this species in the 1902 collec- 

 tion. The collections made in 1903 show an even smaller per- 

 centage in a much greater number of examples, all taken late in 

 the season. There is some doubt also about the egg-laying habits 



