OCTOBEE 12, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



561 



country. Continuing the work so well 

 begun, Dr. Howard made further impor- 

 tant studies of mosquitoes, which he has 

 embodied in Bulletin No. 25, New Series, 

 U. S. Div. of Entomology, 70 pages, entitled 

 'Notes on the Mosquitoes of the United 

 States, giving some account of their struc- 

 ture and biology, with remarks on reme- 

 dies,' which was issued early in September. 

 Some of these ' notes ' are of a monographic 

 nature. 



Under the first heading, ' On mosquitoes 

 in general,' are given interesting accounts 

 of the excessive abundance in which mos- 

 quitoes have occurred in ancient and mod- 

 ern times, even in extreme northern lati- 

 tudes. The length of life of the adult 

 mosquito may vary from a few days in con- 

 finement to months when in hibernation ; 

 a brief general statement of the life-history 

 of mosquitoes is given ; in relation to the 

 food of adult mosquitoes, it is stated that 

 the male does not necessarily take nourish- 

 ment, but they have been seen sipping at 

 drops of water, molasses and beer, while 

 one instance is given where they were made 

 drunk with wine ; the females are believed 

 to be normally plant feeders, less than one 

 in a million ever getting the opportunity to 

 taste the blood of a warm-blooded animal. 

 Evidence is submitted to show that mos- 

 quitoes do not fly far and also that they 

 are not liable to be carried by strong winds, 

 but railway trains are apparently important 

 means of transporting unlimited quantities 

 of them for unlimited distances. Many be- 

 lieve that mosquito larvse can live for a 

 considerable period in mud or dried up 

 pools, but the evidence submitted indicates 

 that when the mud dries up entirely the 

 larvae are necessarily killed. The world's 

 mosquito fauna, as far as known, comprises 

 about 250 species, of which only about 30 

 have been found in the United States, these 

 representing 5 different genera. 



Upoji the very important and interesting 



topic of ' mosquitoes and malaria,' I think 

 more should have been said in such a com- 

 bined popular and scientific bulletin. A 

 brief and popular abstract of Major Eoss' 

 intensely interesting article, only cited, 

 would have been welcomed by many read- 

 ers who, like myself, have not been able to 

 follow closely the trend of recent scientific 

 discovery in this all-important field. It is 

 stated that there is now ' very perfect proof 

 that mosquitoes may and do transfer the 

 malaria germ from a malaria patient and 

 deposit it in the blood of a healthy person ' ; 

 only the mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles 

 have been found to contain the human blood 

 parasites, but apparently no other genera 

 except Culex have been investigated, and 

 our southern physicians are advised to 

 study the very large mosquitoes of two 

 genera occurring there from the malarial 

 standpoint. 



' Synoptic tables of the North American 

 mosquitoes ' are next given. I doubt if 

 more suggestive scientific names occur in 

 anyother group of insects; for instance: exci- 

 tans, stimulans, pungens, perturbaiis, exerucians, 

 provocang, impatiens, pundor, and damnosus. 



The bulletin is teeming with original ob- 

 servations and experiments, especially in 

 relation to the biology of Culex pungens and 

 Anopheles quadrimaculatus and remarks upon 

 other species and their general distribution 

 in the United States. Detailed accounts of 

 the life-histories and habits of these two 

 species are given and illustrated by remark- 

 ably accurate and instructive figures of all 

 stages and many details of structure ; no 

 such thorough and excellent account of 

 any of the species of mosquitoes, especially 

 of the very important malaria- carrying 

 genus Anopheles, has before found its way 

 into the world's literature. Such painstak- 

 ing work deserves the highest commenda- 

 tion and it is a pleasure to credit it to our 

 worthy ofiScial entomologist at Washington. 

 It is shown that the different stages and 



