70 MONTANA EXPEEIMENT STATION Bui. 112 



The State Entomologist has been able to give but little help 

 in mosquito control work, primarily because the specific identity 

 and the breeding habits of Montana mosquitoes were for the most 

 part unknown, and, secondarily, because funds have never been 

 available for securing such information nor for carrying out an 

 experimental control program. 



During the past three years, however, an attempt has been made 

 to study mosquitoes as much as could be done without interfering 

 with other branches of work already outlined. Members of the 

 entomological staff ha^•e collected larvae and adults whenever pos- 

 sible, breeding places have been studied, and a few rearing experi- 

 ments have been conducted. In this way considerable information 

 and material have been collected and the purpose of this paper is 

 to briefly discuss the more common species, which we have found 

 within the State. It should be understood that no extended survey 

 of the State has been attempted and that the species discussed were 

 collected in a few widely separated localities, 



MOSQUITOES OF THE GENUS AEDES 



The great mass of the mosquitoes of Montana belong to species 

 included by present-day workers in the genus Aedes. The general 

 life history of the various species of Aedes mosquitoes as worked out 

 by entomologists in other States is about as follows. The winter 

 is passed in the egg stage. Snow water, spring or summer rains, 

 or moisture from some other source causes the eggs to batch at 

 various intervals during the following season. The eggs do not 

 necessarily all hatch at the first flooding, thus explaining why newly 

 emerged mosquitoes may appear at subsequent floodings. Authori- 

 ties state that the eggs of Aedes species never hatch the same year 

 they are laid, but must be first subjected to the freezing of the 

 winter season. The eggs are laid upon the ground. While the 

 general outline of the life history is known, the details vary consid- 

 erably in different species and in dift'erent localities. It is generally 

 recognized that an accurate study of the life history of each species 

 must be carried out in a locality before intelligent control work 

 can he carried on. 



Aedes curriei Cocj. 



This is the most abundant, the most widely distributed, and 

 one of the worst biters of our Montana mosquitoes. In collections 



