538 MOSQUITOES OP NORTH AMERICA 



serrations on inner side. Maxilla rounded rectangular, the attachment oblique, 

 the short palpus sessile on the outer angle; a fringe of short spines on inner 

 aspect, those on projecting inner angle longest ; a small spine before tip. Palpus 

 hardly longer than broad, truncate at tip; with four rudimentary digits. 

 Thorax rounded, about as wide as long, the anterior margin strongly convex ; 

 lateral single hairs long, tufts short. Abdomen stout, segments transverse, 

 anterior ones strongly projecting laterally; long lateral hairs double to fifth 

 segment, single on sixth ; secondary hairs in small tufts. Tracheal tubes broad, 

 band-shaped, nearly even. Air-tube long, nearly evenly tapered from near base, 

 over five times as long as wide ; peeten not reaching to middle of tube, of about 

 17 teeth, the single tooth a roimdedly quadrangular scale with two to four apical 

 spines, one of which is prolonged into a hair, four times as long as the scale ; 

 a small hair-tuft beyond the middle of the tube, well beyond peeten. Lateral 

 comb of eighth segment a row of about 14 scales in a straight line on a chitinized 

 infuscated band, preceded by a large patch of little fan-shaped scales many 

 rows deep ; single scale with a trifid apex, the middle tooth lengthily produced. 

 Anal segment longer than wide, ringed by the plate; dorsal tuft a long hair 

 and brush on each side ; a small lateral tuft ; ventral brush a series of short tufts 

 running the whole length of ventral line. Anal gills very long, three times as 

 long as the segment, regularly tapered to a sharp tip. 



Doubtless the life history and habits are similar to the other species of the 

 subgenus. The larvae occur in transient puddles after rains and prey upon 

 other mosquito larva. Mr. Busck found them, together with those of Psoro- 

 phora cilipes, in a newly flooded meadow preying upon the larvae of Culex 

 comiger and of Psorophora posticata. 



Southern Mexico to northern South America. 



Trinidad, British West Indies (F. W. Urich; A. Busck); Las Cascadas, 

 Canal Zone, Panama, May 15, June 18, 1907 (A. Busck) ; Tabernilla, Canal 

 Zone, Panama, August 30, 1908 (A. H. Jennings) ; Pedro Miguel, Canal Zone, 

 Panama (A. H. Jennings) ; Santa Eosa, Vera Cruz, Mexico, August, 1906 (W. 

 Schaus), 



Psorophora smva greatly resembles Psorophora cilipes in general appearance 

 and may be easily confused with it. In sceva the outstanding scales of the legs 

 are rather narrow and dark violet, while in cilipes they are much broader, clavate 

 and spatulate, more irregularly disposed and strongly iridescent. Other differ- 

 ences are indicated in the descriptions. The scales on the mesonotum are very 

 dehiscent and captured specimens are usually entirely denuded; in such the 

 mesonotum presents a highly polished, nearly unbroken surface. 



PSOROPHORA CILIPES (Fabricius) Dyar & Knab. 



Oulex dlipes Fabricius, Syst. Antllat., 34, 1805. 



Sabethes scintillans Walker, Cat. Brit. Mus., Dipt., i, 1, 1848. 



Sabethes scintillans Giles, Gnats or Mosq., 185, 1900. 



Psorophora scintillans Theobald, Mon. Culic, 1, 265, 1901. 



Psorophora scintillans Giles, Gnats or Mosq., 2 ed., 346, 1902. 



Psorophora scintillans Theobald, Mon. Culic, iii, 130, 1903. 



Psorophora scintillans Lutz in Bourroul, Mosq. do Brasil, 71, 1904. 



Psorophora scintillans Blanchard, Les Moust, 241, 1905. 



Psorophora cilipes Dyar & Knab, Journ. N. Y. Bnt. Sec, xiv, 179, 1906. 



Psorophora cilipes Coquillett (in part), U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent., Tech. Ser. 11, 14. 



1906. 

 Psorophora iracunda Dyar & Knab, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., xix, 133, 1906. 

 Psorophora sclntillaus Aiken, Brit. Guiana Med. Annual, 1906, 65, 1907. 

 Psorophora scintillans Peryassfl, Os Culic. do Brazil, 44, 159, 1908. 

 Psorophora iracunda Busck, Smiths. Misc. Colls., quart, iss.. Ill, 62, 1908. 

 Psorophora scintillans Theobald (in part), Mon. Culic, v, 124, 1910. 

 Psorophora iracunda Theobald, Mon. Culic, v, 605, 1910. 



