18 THE IMPORTANCE OP DOMESTIC MOSQUITOS 



the sake of those who are not familiar with the 

 different characters of the insects, it may be as well 

 to describe the different appearances. The Culex 

 stands on the wall or mosquito net with its body 

 parallel to the surface ; the Anopheles holds its body 

 straight out almost perpendicular to the wall. The 

 Culex rarely has marked wings ; the Anopheles nearly 

 always has spotted wings. The female Culex has 

 short palpae ; the female Anopheles has long palpae. 

 The two insects have so often been pictured to- 

 gether, and their difference is so well known, that 

 their discrimination is an easy matter. All medical 

 men know the Anopheline from the Culecine. 



The Culecine mosquito has many varieties or 

 species, but for practical purposes these may be col- 

 lected into two groups the common grey gnat and 

 the speckled gnat. These two forms are generally 

 found together, in warm climates, in towns, villages, 

 standing camps, and on board ships in fact, in 

 all communities of human beings. The grey 

 gnat is a sombre, grey or brown, or even a black 

 mosquito which haunts rooms in the evening or at 

 night. In the early morning it can always be seen 

 resting on the mosquito curtain tired and well fed 

 after its nocturnal labours. It likes to have a final 

 feed just before dawn. The speckled Stegomyia is 

 the brightly coloured, black-and-white striped mos- 

 quito which bites in the daytime, especially just 

 after the dawn. It haunts dark clothes and shady 

 verandas. These are the two common domestic 

 mosquitos. 



