390 MOSQUITOES OF NOETH AMERICA 



lated spine. Harpes membranous, rounded, bearing a row of long spines on 

 margin. Harpagones broad, flat, tips pointed, inner margin revolute. 



Larva, Stage IV (plate 106, fig. 356). — Head subijuadTate, nearly straight 

 along posterior margin, much wider than long, widest through eyes ; antennae 

 long and stout, a taft at outer third, part beyond slender; upper pair of dorsal 

 head-hairs a short multiple tuft, lower pair long, single. Body with skin pilose ; 

 lateral hairs in threes on first abdominal segment, in twos on second, in fours on 

 third and fourth, in threes on fifth and sixth. Lateral comb of eighth segment 

 of many spines in a triangular patch. Air-tube slender, about nine times as 

 long as wide, straight, a little enlarged near base ; pecten of rather long evenly 

 spaced teeth, running to basal third, followed by five rather short tufts along 

 posterior margin. Anal segment longer than wide, ringed by"Ehe plate; dorsal 

 tuft of four hairs of different lengths on each side ; ventral brush confined by the 

 chitinous ring. Anal gills short, equal, conically tipped. 



The larvae breed in the mangrove swamps, where they abound. Theobald 

 quotes Dr. Grabham on the habits as follows (Mosq. or Culic. Jamaica, 28, 

 1905) : 



" They are taken aU the year around. The eggs have not been observed. The 

 larvae live in permanent algae-containing pools and feed upon algae. Minnows 

 frequently occur with them and do not seem to destroy them at all; nor do 

 dragon-fiy larvae. Dr. Grabham says they are easily distinguished from the 

 larvae of other local culices by their delicate transparent outline, small size, and 

 relatively greater length and fineness of the respiratory siphon. The pupae have 

 very long cylindrical siphons, and are green in colour; in life the upper two- 

 thirds of the siphons are black or dark gray, in striking contrast to the rest of 

 the body of the pupa, which is very transparent. This smaU black mosquito is 

 a most troublesome pest in swamps, especially in the local mangrove swamps 

 around Kingston ; but it also invades houses where, on account of its small size, 

 ordinary mosquito-netting is of no protection against them. The female bites 

 at aU times of the day and night, the bites causing very severe irritation." 



Island of Jamaica, West Indies. 



Kingston, April, 1906 (M. Grabham). 



We recognize this species from the island of Jamaica only. Theobald's refer- 

 ence of it to Trinidad and elsewhere in South America, we consider erroneous, 

 as there was probably some other species which resembled it under observation. 

 The same is true of identifications of this species from the southern United 

 States and elsewhere ; in a number of cases we have seen the specimens in ques- 

 tion and found that they belong to distinct species. 



In the original description Theobald quotes Dr. Grabham as strongly sus- 

 pecting the male to be a blood-sucker. This surmise is converted into a positive 

 statement by Peryassii, as it would seem, without any basis of fact. No obser- 

 vations have been published which would confirm such a beUef . 



CULEX IGNOBILIS Dyar & Knab. 



Culex ignobilis Dyar £ Knab, Proc. Ent. Soo. Wash., xi, 39, 1909. 

 Culex intvohilis Pazos, Sanidad y Benefic, ii, 50, 562, 1909. 



OKIGINAL DesCBIPTION of CtILEX IQNOBnjS : 



Proboscis and legs without pale rings; proboscis swollen toward the tip; abdo- 

 men without dorsal pale bands, dull blackish, lateral spots yellowish white, basally 

 situated on the segments; venter pale-scaled, with indisUnct darli bands towards the 

 tip. Occiput with pale scales and erect black forked ones. Scales of the wings broad, 

 many obliquely subtruncate. 



Four specimens, San Antonio de los Bafios, Cuba (J. H. Pazos). 



Type.— No. 12239, U. S. Nat. Mus. 



