430 THE ANIMAL PARASITES OF MAN 



scales on their apical areas and along the upper costal border. The femora 

 and apices of the tibiae are swollen. 



The black mosquito, Melanoconion atratus, Theob. This small gnat is a 

 very troublesome pest in swamps in the West Indies. The female bites both 

 by day and by night, and the bite causes severe irritation. The larvae live 

 in permanent ponds. It is almost black in colour, but sometimes presents 

 a dull coppery-sheen ; each segment has small lateral basal white spots. 

 Length 2*5 to 3 mm. 



It occurs in Para and British Guiana as well as in the West Indies. 



Ordinary mosquito netting is no use for keeping off this pest. 



Genus Grabhamia, Theobald. 



Mono. Culicid., iii., p. 243, 1903. 



Allied to Culex, but separated by the wings having short fork-cells, 

 mottled scales, the median ones thick and also some of the lateral ones 

 short and broad ; the last two joints of the male palps are very slightly 

 swollen. The eggs are laid singly, not in rafts, and the larvae have short, 

 thick siphons. Ten species occur and are found in Europe, N. America, West 

 Indies and Natal. G. dorsalis, Meigen, bites severely in Europe. G. sollicitans, 

 Walker, is a great scourge along the New Jersey Coast and at Virginia 

 summer resorts and in Florida. It breeds in brackish water, and is the most 

 common mosquito of the Atlantic seaboard. 



Genus T&morkynchits, Arribalzaga. 



Differs from the former in having the whole wing veins clothed with dense, 

 broadish elongated scales. They occur in South America (T. fasciolatus, Arri. ; 

 T. fulvus, Wied.) ; in Africa (T. tenax, Theob.) ; in Asia (T. conopas, Frau ; 

 T. aurites, Theob., &c.), in Europe (^. richardii, Ficalbi). 



A yellowish species, T. fuscopennatus, Theob., with black apices to some 

 of the tarsi, occurs in Uganda, both in the forest and indoors in great 

 numbers. Dr. Loew found filariae in the thoracic muscles of this species. 



Genus Mansonia, Blanch ard ; Panoplites, Theobald. 



Compt. Rend. Hebd. Soc. d. Biol., 37, iii., p. 1046, 1901 ; Mono. Culicid. , ii., 

 p. 173, 1901. 



A very marked genus easily told by the broad asymmetrical wing scales. 

 It occurs in Africa (M . uniformis and M. major, Theob.) ; in Asia (M. 

 uniformis, Theob. ; M. annulipes, Walker, &c.) ; and in Australia (M. austra- 

 tiencis} ; in the Americas and West Indies (M. titillans, Walker). The eggs 

 (fig. 273, d} are peculiar in form and are laid separately ; the larva has not 

 been described ; the pupa has long curved siphons. They mostly occur along 

 rivers, in swamps and forests, and bite very severely. They also enter houses 

 (M. titillans}. M. uniformis is most troublesome during the rains. The 

 saliva is strongly acid. 



