THE PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



OF THK 



UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER T. 



MOSQUITOES AND FLEAS. 



By L. O. HowAHD. 



MOSQUITOES. 



(Culicidw spp.) 



Although mosquitoes are out-of-door iusects, they may be considered 

 appropriately under the head of household pests, for the reason that 

 they enter houses, to the torment of the inhabitants, all through the 

 summer months, and many of them pass the winter in cellars. In fact, 

 it is probably safe to say that no distinctive household x>est causes as 

 much annoyance as the mosquito. 



We are accustomed to think and speak of the mosquito as if there 

 were but one species j yet, to our knowledge, there are no less than 

 eight species, for example, which are more or less common in the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, and the writer has noticed at Xew Orleans, La., 

 certainly four different species at the same season of the year, while at 

 Christmas time a fifth species, smaller than the others, causes consid- 

 erable trouble in the houses of that city. In Trinidad ]Mr. Urich states 

 that he has observed at least ten different species, while Dr. AVilliston 

 has described several from the island of St. Vincent. In his Catalogue 

 of the Diptera of North America Baron Osten Sacken records twenty- 

 one from North America, and it is perhaps safe to say that not half of 

 the species are described. In the collection of the United States 

 jSTational Museum there are twenty distinct si)ecies, all of which have 

 been authentically determined by Mr. Coquillett. 



The common species at Washington in the months of May and June 

 is Culex puufjens AVied. I say the common species, but do not wish to 

 be understood as saying that mosquitoes are common in Washington at 

 that time of the year. As a matter of fact, the city is singularly free 

 from this little pest, and this is largely due to the reclamation of the 

 marshes of the Potomac Kiver, which in war times and for a number 

 of years afterwards caused the inhabitants of this city to suffer severely 

 from this insect. As late as 1875, it is said, it was almost impossible 

 to spend any of the night hours near the marsht^ without smudges. 

 Later in the season other species become abundant. 



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