292 A Monograph of Culicidae. 



The ova when first laid are white, but soon turn black and 

 are spindle-shaped in form, slightly stouter at one end. As 

 many as 200 may be laid by a single female. 



Like Grabhamia dorsalis the eggs are never laid in water. 

 Smith says they are deposited in low damp places, which fill up 

 with snow and ice during winter or are filled by high spring 

 tides. Mating takes place within twenty-four hours after hatching, 

 and in a few days the females commence to oviposit. The summer 

 eggs may lie for three months in mud and they must lie dry or 

 nearly so for three or four days before they hatch. The larval 

 stage lasts six days, and by the seventh day the pupa hatches 

 according to Dr. Grabham. Professor Smith says this period 

 varies from seven to ten days. If the pool dries up when the larva 

 is just pupating, the creature may still hatch out, for the pupa 



Fig. 97. 



Labial plate. 



Grabhamia sollicitans (after Felt). 



can live twenty-four hours in damp mud. The number of broods 

 depends on the weather and tides, as many as eight have been 

 observed at Cape May. 



The migrations of this species begin soon after the adults 

 omerge. Great numbers hatch out uniformly, and do not bite 

 until they have been fertilised by the males. On the first 

 evening after copulation they arise in swarms and allow them- 

 selves to be carried by the wind, generally inland but sometimes 

 out to sea. Although the wind mostly carries them, yet they 

 do not merely drift, but actually fly, and even against a slight 

 breeze. 



Professor Smith states that the vast majority that migrate to 

 the pine regions in New Jersey die without reproducing their 

 kind after a life of about one month. 



This species seldom occurs indoors. The larvae seem to be 



