34 The Mosquitoes or Culicidae of Jamaica. 



a few white ones, apex white ; proboscis yellowish-brown, a little 

 dark at the base and very dark at the apex, in fact, broadly pale 

 banded in the middle. Thorax brown, with scattered brown 

 narrow-curved scales and a few golden ones in lines, long black 

 scales and bristles over the roots of the wings. Abdomen dusky- 

 brown, with yellow scales laterally, ochraceous ventrally and 

 sometimes with white scales on the apical borders and the sides. 

 Legs yellowish-brown, with ochraceous and dark scales ; tarsi 

 basally pale banded ; ungues of the female equal and simple. 

 Wings densely scaled, with broad brown and creamy scales. In 

 the male the fore and mid ungues are unequal. The larger 

 uniserrated, the smaller simple, hind ones equal and simple. 



Length. 5 to 5*5 mm. 



Geographical distribution. Generally over the northern part 

 of South America, through Brazil to the Argentine, in the 

 southern states of North America and in Trinidad, Antigua and 

 Jamaica. Apparently uncommon in Jamaica. 



Life-history and habits. This common South American species 

 has, as far as I know, not had its life-history worked out. 

 It is a large and conspicuous insect which is subject to much 

 variation. It is limited in Brazil largely to river sides and 

 swamps fed by running water. It follows the course of the 

 large South American rivers, but also occurs in numbers on the 

 littoral. It inhabits the banks of the Parana, and is present 

 in great numbers in March and April, and visits houses in 

 numbers. It apparently does not like thickly -populated places, 

 and, although common around, is rare in Buenos Ayres and 

 its suburbs. It occurs also in November in Brazil, and in 

 abundance along the course of the Amazon. The eggs are 

 probably like those of the allied African and Indian species 

 (uniformis), and are laid singly. The pupa and larva are unknown 

 also ; at least, have not been described. The M. uniformis 

 has a pupa of rather marked character, the siphons being long 

 and curved and ending acuminately, and the anal plates are 

 elongated and oval, notched at the apex, and the abdominal 

 segments are much constricted and have dorsal median spines. 



Economic importance. The bite of this riverside mosquito is 

 very painful ; its saliva is distinctly acid. Probably it can act 

 as an intermediate host of filariae. 



