934 MOSQUITOES OF NOETH AMEEICA 



basal part, pemiltimate joint slightly shorter than outer part of long joint and 

 with stout apical bristles; vestiture black, the scales showing bright blue and 

 violet reflections, the tip, the constriction of the long joint and its apex pale 

 violet; beneath covered with coarse brassy scales. Antennae filiform, delicate, 

 shorter than the palpi, the joints subequal, the second longer and thickened, 

 with dorsal crest of erect scales on basal half ; hairs of whorls moderate, sparse, 

 black; tori small, black, with dense silvery gray pruinosity. Clypeus not promi- 

 nent, transverse, nearly quadrate, hardly produced at middle; black, covered 

 with silver-gray pruinosity. Occiput covered with appressed broad steel-blue 

 scales, ocular margins light violet-blue; cheeks and head beneath silver scaled. 



Prothoracic lobes large and prominent, covered with broad brilliant blue 

 scales and bearing a few coarse black hairs. Mesonotum covered on the disk 

 with a mixture of green and bronze scales, lateral margins, particularly at bases 

 of wings, with brilliant light blue and and greenish scales ; hind margin bright 

 green scaled. Scutellum covered with brilliant pale-blue scales. Postnotum 

 deep brown, slightly pruinose, nude. Pleurae and coxae brown, densely covered 

 with silvery-white scales. 



Abdomen subcylindrical at base, beyond the second segment depressed and 

 much broadened with a trace of a median ridge ; dorsal vestiture of metallic 

 scales, those of first segment silvery at the sides, medianly light blue and green ; 

 second segment olive green, third green basally, blue apically, fourth blue 

 basally, violet apically, fifth, sixth and seventh segments violet with strong 

 coppery luster, eighth segment blue ; the second to sixth segments bear lateral 

 apical silvery spots with a slight yellowish tinge, the spots on fourth, fifth, and 

 sixth segments very large and occupying outer third of segment; seventh seg- 

 ment with a pair of smaller sublateral silvery spots; seventh segment witii 

 brilliant red tufts along apical two-thirds of lateral margins; venter silver 

 scaled with a slight brassy luster and a narrow dark blue median longitudinal 

 line. 



Wings narrow ; basal cross-vein oblique, reaching fourth vein slightly beyond 

 anterior cross-vein; costa blue and violet scaled, the veins with small sub- 

 truncate brown scales. Halteres stout at base, stem very slender below the knob ; 

 knob black, silver scaled above. 



Legs deep blue and purple scaled ; middle pair with second and third tarsal 

 joints silver-blue scaled dorsally; all the femora brassy scaled beneath; hind 

 tibiae brassy scaled beneath. Claw small, formula 0.0-0.0-0.0. 



Length : Body about 7 mm. ; wing 5 mm. 



Male. — Proboscis curved, tapering gradually to tip, slightly longer than in 

 the female. Palpi long, longer than the proboscis, long joint stout and nearly 

 two-fifths the length of entire palpus, about two-fifths from its base a marked 

 constriction, having the appearance of a true joint; penultimate joint about 

 three-fifths the length of preceding one; last joint about as long as preceding, 

 slender, slightly curved and tapering to a point; vestiture of dark metallic blue 

 and violet scales, false joint and apices of all but the last segment with pale 

 violet scales ; beneath all but the last joint brassy scaled except at the segmenta- 

 tions, where they are black. Antennae densely plumose ; second joint long and 

 stout, slightly compressed, nearly three times as long as succeeding one, with a 

 dorsal crest of broad erect metallic scales; succeeding joints short and stout, 

 gradually diminishing in size towards apex, the last two joints long and very 

 slender; tori moderate, black, with silvery-gray pruinosity. Clypeus rather 

 small, almost quadrate, produced into a pointed lobe at middle, black, covered 

 with silvery-gray pruinosity. Abdomen slender, subcylindrical, broadened 

 somewhat to the apex of sixth segment, fifth and succeeding segments de- 

 pressed ; dorsally the color of the vestiture passes from metallic green and blue 



