The Mosquitoes of New Jersey 35 



and food supply. The higher the temperature and the more abun- 

 dant the food supply, the shorter will be the period of development. 

 Also it should be recognized that within ordinary outdoor limits, 

 the higher the temperature the greater is the food supply. 



There is not a regular succession of broods, as in most other 

 insects. The marshes are full of eggs. In the summer season, 

 submergence, whether by rains or tides, starts a brood which, unless 

 destroyed by fish or by the drying up of the water, undergoes its 

 transformations and gets on the wing, deposits its eggs and con- 

 tributes its part to human discomfort. This process continues 

 throughout the season from March to October. 



If the eggs are water-covered within 24 hours of the time of 

 placing they perish, but they may remain dry for three months or 

 longer without losing vitality. When covered with water after re- 

 maining dry for a week or two, their hatching is a matter of minutes 

 rather than hours. 



Apparently, a considerable percentage of the eggs deposited dur- 

 ing any one season fail to hatch during that season and remain in 

 mud until the one following. By this provision of nature the salt 

 marsh is always stocked with eggs, and the appearance of a brood 

 is a matter of water covering, high temperature, and the absence of 

 fish. If the water remains only long enough for the larvae to 

 transform to pupae, the pupae will get enough moisture from the 

 mud to exist for the 24 hours, at the end of which time many of 

 them will produce adult mosquitoes. 



The Small Salt-Marsh Mosquito 

 (Aedes taeniorhynchus Say.j 



This species may be recognized by the following description. It 

 is a small black mosquito with narrow white bands at the base of 

 the abdominal segments, and with a narrow white band around the 

 beak and around the base of each tarsal joint except the last, which 

 is entirely white. The larva is very similar to A. sollicitans, but dif- 

 fers in that the head is usually marked with color. 



While similar in habits to A. sollicitans, it does not fly so far over 

 the upland. Along the South Jersey coast there are times when this 

 species is just as abundant near the shore as A. sollicitans. 



