THE PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES. 



CHAPTER I. 



MOSQUITOES AND FLEAS. 



Bv L. O. Howard. 



MOSQUITOES. 



(Cidicidcr spp.) 



Although mosquitoes are out-of-door insects, 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 pest causes as 

 much annoyance as the mosquito. 



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

 were but one species; 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 from the island of 

 St. Vincent. In his Catalogue of the Diptera of North America P>aron 

 Osten Sacken records twenty-one from Xorth America, and it is per- 

 haps safe to say that not half of the species are described. In the 

 collection of the United States National Museum there are twenty 

 distinct species, all of which have been authentically determined by 

 Mr. Coquillett. 



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

 is Culexpungen* Wied. 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 River, which in war times and for a number 

 of years afterwards caused the inhabitants of this city t<> sutler severely 

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

 to spend any of the night hours near the marshes without smudges. 

 Later in the season other species become abundant. 



9 



