842 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIV. No. 885 



characteristics as his definition for pure line. 

 " A pure line may be defined as the descend- 

 ants from one single homozygotic organism 

 exclusively propagating by self-fertilization." ' 

 It appears that we need badly a term that will 

 include " genotypically identical " series of 

 forms arising in other cases than this one, so 

 that it is difficult to give up the use of the 

 term in this wider meaning. 



H. S. Jennings 



MOSQUITO ROMANCE 



In the issue of Science for September 15, 

 pp. 350-351, Dr. John B. Smith reviewed a 

 book by Edward H. Eoss — " The Eeduction of 

 Domestic Mosquitos." While Dr. Smith in- 

 dicates that the book does not meet the gen- 

 eral needs of those to whom the title is obvi- 

 ously meant to appeal, he intimates that it 

 will be valuable " in warm climates." Other 

 reviews of the book have appeared in terms of 

 unqualified praise. The most recent of these 

 is in the November number of Entomological 

 News. Furthermore, the book has been well 

 advertised among those who might need use- 

 ful information on this now important subject. 

 Under the circumstances the writer considers 

 it his duty to protect fellow-workers by indi- 

 cating the true character of the book. 



The author restricts himself to the two 

 principal house-mosquitoes of the tropics, 

 Stegomyia calopus and Culex fatigans, and the 

 problem of their control. But instead of facts 

 we get an array of well-worn generalities, 

 and, where he deals with the life histories of 

 the insects, of pure fabrications. It would be 

 a waste of valuable space to discuss this book 

 in extenso; a few choice blossoms are culled 

 herewith for the benefit of the uninformed. 



The book is avowedly economic and biolog- 

 ical, but, lest the reader think the systematic 

 side is negligible, we quote the following: 

 " Fabricius in 1805 first designated the ' tiger ' 

 mosquito, Stegomyia fasciata, although Vil- 

 liers^ had probably described the same insect 



' Johannsen, Amer. Nat., Mareh, 1911, p. 135. 

 * The author 's name is de Villers. He described 

 a Culex fasciatus in 1789. Independently Meigen, 



before; Meigen called it Stegomyia calopus 

 very soon after. In 1825 Latreille grouped 

 mosquitos generally under the name Culi- 

 cidse, but only three genera were known. 

 Anopheles, Culex and ZSdes." Alas for 

 Meigen and for Theobald! 



Chapter II. deals with " the life and habits 

 of mosquitos." One of the first statements 

 we find here is that " the htematophagous 

 habit appears to be dependent on the presence, 

 in the female, of the spermatozoa of the male." 

 The author deduces this from the fact that all 

 the females with blood in the stomach dis- 

 sected by him contained spermatozoa in the 

 spermathecse. " From this it must be inferred 

 that virgin females do not, commonly, take 

 blood " — surely a simple piece of reasoning ! 

 We are then favored with some amusing 

 speculative remarks on this unusual phe- 

 nomenon. A most remarkable belief of the 

 author is that the female Culex, after dispos- 

 ing of her eggs, seeks another male and, after 

 being again fertilized, produces another raft 

 of eggs, and then over again, apparently ad 

 infinitum,. This absurd belief is, of course, 

 purely a product of the author's imagination 

 and it is controverted by a formidable array 

 of established facts, of which, however, our au- 

 thor is blissfully ignorant. Considerable space 

 is taken up with the reiteration of this notion 

 and the author returns to it again and again. 

 " If a female lays a whole egg-raft or complete 

 brood, she exhausts all the spermatozoa within 

 her spermathecse and then she must again co- 

 habit with a male in order to be replenished. 

 This is the reason why males are likely to re- 

 main in or resort to the places where the fe- 

 males commonly lay their eggs. For example, 

 in houses, the males of the Culecines are com- 

 monly found in the water-closets. The fe- 

 males are attracted there by the seal-water, 



in 1804, and Fabricius, in 1805, described other 

 mosquitoes under the same name. The last of 

 these was the species here considered, but the 

 name is preoccupied by the two earlier homonyms; 

 consequently {Culex) calopus, the name under 

 which it was later described by Meigen, had to be 

 adopted. The genus Stegomyia was established by 

 Theobald in 1901. 



