66 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 
In the males of the Sabethini it is usually the claws of the middle feet alone 
that show sexual peculiarities, and even these may be but slight. With a very 
few exceptions the claws are simple in both sexes and the male characters consist 
of differences in the length and shape of the claws. In Wyeomyia trinidadensis 
the claws of the middle feet of the male are nearly equal in length; one of them, 
however, is much stouter and more strongly curved, and the fifth tarsal joint is 
deeply excised apically beneath. In Limatus durhamii the claws of the male’s 
middle feet are similar to those just described, the last tasal joint, however, is 
without excision and only slightly tapered towards the apex. In the male 
Wyeomyia circumcincta the claws of the middle feet are unequal in length, the 
large one sickle-shaped, the small one gently curved. In the male of Wyeomyia 
smithii there is one large sickle-shaped claw and the small claw is represented by 
a minute stout spine. In Sabethinus undosus the male has the claws of the 
middle feet of nearly equal length ; however, one claw is deeply cleft and one of 
its branches, instead of tapering to a point, is flattened and truncated at the tip, 
the truncation bearing a series of very fine teeth. The claws of the middle feet 
of the male Sabethes cyaneus are very similar to those just described; the 
flattened branch, however, is much broader and covers the other, the point of 
which projects slightly from below. 
In the Sabethini just discussed it is only the middle claws of the male that are 
modified ; the front claws are simple and equal. In the genera Joblotia and 
Lesticocampa both the front and the middle claws are differentiated. In Job- 
lotia digitatus the claws of the front and middle legs of the male are unequal but 
simple, those of the front legs being the larger and more curved. In the male of 
Lesticocampa lampropus the claws of the front and middle legs are unequal and 
simple, bent strongly backward so that the tip of the large claw nearly touches 
the fourth tarsal joint. 
In Joblotia trichorryes the claws of the front and middle legs of the male are 
unequal ; the large claw of the front feet has a slender tooth while all the other 
claws are simple. The claws of the male Lesticocampa dicellaphora are perhaps 
the most remarkable of any mosquito. The front claws are unequal, the larger 
with a tooth. The middle claws are also unequal; the smaller is slender and 
unarmed ; the larger has along its under surface a comb, composed of about 
twenty very long, slender, sharp teeth. 
The claws are supported by a membranous cushion which occupies the apical 
portion of the last tarsal segment beneath. This cushion may be nearly obsolete, 
as in the male of Uranotenia, when the claws are inserted close upon the tarsus 
and more or less ventrally. The cushion covers the ventro-apical excision of the 
fifth tarsal joint and upon the size of this excision the development of the cushion 
depends. On this account this cushion is well developed in most of the Culicini 
and produced forward beyond the tarsus to support the bases of the claws. The 
cushion is furnished with two, more or less lanceolate, chitinous pieces, the 
flexor plates. These flexor plates have muscles attached to their bases and hinge 
upon the tarsus ; apically they are attached to the bases of the claws. By traction 
of the muscles the claws are drawn downward. When the cushion is well de- 
