﻿204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. loo 



definite rainy season lasting from November to April, but the rainfall 

 during the dry season is usually considerable. Extremely dry condi- 

 tions for periods of about a month have been noted on Guadalcanal. 



One other feature of the Solomon Islands must be mentioned because 

 of its effect on the mosquito fauna. The large mammals are repre- 

 sented only by the Papuan pig, a few domestic cattle, and man. The 

 other mammals are a few species of small marsupials, several species 

 of rats, and a fairly large number of bats. The only other source of 

 vertebrate blood for mosquitoes in the area is to be derived from birds 

 and reptiles, which are much more numerous than the mammals. As 

 a result, only a small proportion of the mosquito species of the area 

 attack man and a large proportion probably derive their blood-meals 

 from birds and lizards. 



During the war mosquito collections were naturally restricted to 

 the occupied portions of the islands because of the lack of transpor- 

 tation and the difficulty of travel in the jungle. Guadalcanal Island 

 was more extensively collected on than any other, but even there almost 

 all the collections were made on the north and northwest coasts from 

 sea level to elevations of a few hundred feet and perhaps 4 miles inland, 

 in an area of less than 60 square miles. This island is about 90 miles 

 long and 25 to 35 miles in width, with the greatest portion mountainous 

 and inaccessible. In the vicinity of Guadalcanal, a few collections 

 were obtained from Malaita, the Florida group, and the Russell group. 

 This assemblage of islands, together with Guadalcanal, may be called 

 the eastern Solomons. In the central Solomons intensive collecting- 

 was done in the New Georgia group. The Munda Point area, at the 

 western end of New Georgia Island, was thoroughly collected. Addi- 

 tional records were obtained from smaller islands nearby : Arundel, 

 Kolumbangara, Eendova, Sesavele, and Roviana Islands. A less ex- 

 tensive collection was obtained from Segi Point at the eastern end of 

 New Georgia. In the northern Solomons, Bougainville, the largest 

 of the islands in the group, was thoroughly covered in an area of a few 

 square miles in the Cape Torokina district in Empress Augusta Bay. 

 Sterling, the small island in the Treasury group south of Bougain- 

 ville, provides the only other mosquito specimens from the northern 

 Solomons. The map (fig. 31) indicates the localities where collections 

 were made in the Solomons during the war. 



HISTORICAL REVIEW 



The mosquitoes of the Solomons were entirely unknown until 1924, 

 when Edwards reviewed the mosquitoes of the Australasian Region, 

 mentioning six species from the Solomons with two novelties, one 

 being Tripteroides solomonis. In 1925 Edwards added two new 

 species, one of which was Tripteroides distigma^ and four new records ; 

 in 1926 the same author added eight species, including Tripteroides 



