86 N. J. Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 348 



Life Hal)its 



Culex pipiens passes the winter as an adult female hiding away 

 in cellars, buildings and other protected places. When warm weath- 

 er definitely sets in the spring, the adults come forth and lay their 

 eggs wherever standing water can be found. The eggs, which are 

 black, are stuck together in such a fashion as to form a boat-shaped 

 raft. Each raft is made up from 50 to 400 eggs. In about 24 hours 

 after deposition the eggs hatch the wrigglers. In a week, if the 

 water is warm and full of food, the wrigglers attain their growth 

 and transform into the pupal stage. In this condition, without tak- 



Fig. 49. Typical breeding places of the house mosquito ; pool and garbage 



dump — heavy breeding occurs both in exposed water and in receptacles. 



Open water can be effectively treated but only a small percentage of the 



receptacles can be reached. (Photo by Passaic County Mosquito 



Extermination Commission). 



ing food, they stay from one to three days. Then the large end 

 splits open and the mosquito crawls out. After resting for a short 

 time on the old pupal skin and allowing the wings and body to ex- 

 pand and harden, the adult mosquito flies away. In a few days the 

 females are ready to lay eggs. From the time breeding starts in the 

 spring until the cold weather of fall drives the adult females into 

 hibernation, brood succeeds brood. 



The type of rainy weather which will keep rainwater-holding 

 places continually full without causing them to .overflow and wash 

 the larvae away is the weather most favorable to this species, for 

 with heavy precipitation, no sooner does a brood get started than 

 it is washed away. Extreme dry weather is likewise unfavorable, 



