The Mosquitoes of New Jersey 13 



(moist chamber). When ready for pinning it should be laid on a 

 smooth surface and pinned through the side of the thorax. The 

 common method of pinning is to thrust the pin through the thorax 

 from top to bottom, but the writer prefers the former because abso- 

 lutely no handling of the specimen is required. By use of a spacer 

 the insect should be slipped up the pin until it reaches a point just 

 far enough below the head to enable the thumb and finger to grasp 

 the head without touching any part of the insect. The date and 

 locality label should then be slipped up the pin to a point just far 

 enough below the insect to give a good clear view of all parts of the 

 specimen. The completed specimen should then be thrust into the 

 cork bottom of a tightly closing box and the box should be furnished 

 with naphthalene to protect the mosquito against museum pests. In 

 this way mosquito specimens may be preserved indefinitely. If 

 storage is not desired the preparation may be. stopped with the 

 pinning. 



Larval mosquitoes can be classified with certainty only as they are 

 prepared for use under the microscope, or each individual separated 

 out and allowed to breed through to an adult. In the field, larvae 

 may be scooped up with a tumbler, or better still, with a small, fine- 

 meshed net either of cloth or wire, and placed in vials filled with 80 

 per cent alcohol. In this form they will remain in condition for 

 study for a long period. At -any time specimens may be removed 

 and mounted on a glass slide for study. Of course, still better con- 

 ditions may be obtained by bringing the larvae in alive and dropping 

 them into hot absolute alcohol. After giving time for the alcohol 

 to remove the water in their bodies (ten minutes when the number 

 of specimens is small and the volume of alcohol large) they should 

 ])e placed in xylol for clearing. When sufficiently clear they may 

 be mounted directly on slides in Canada balsam. When properly 

 carried out, this process gives specimens that will last indefinitely. 



The mosquito's body, like that of most insects, is made up of three 

 distinct regions — head, thorax and abdomen. The head is a glob- 

 ular object having: (i) a pair of eyes, one on each side of the head; 

 (2) a pair of more (male) or less (female) feathery feelers, or 

 antennae; (3) a pair of mouth feelers, or palpi; (4) a long prom- 

 inent beak. The thorax is long, elliptical, and bears three pairs of 

 legs on its lower surface and one pair of more or less transparent 

 wings on its upper surface. The abdomen is long and narrow and 

 composed of many plainly defined segments. It bears no appendages 



