16 PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



ruology, brought in from Lakeland, Md., a small place 9 miles from 

 Washington, specimens of a large and very ferocious mosquito, which 

 Mr. Coquillett determined as Anopheles quadrimaculatus Say, a species 

 which had previously been observed at Washington in August. This 

 mosquito was very abundant at Lakeland at the time, aud its eggs 

 were obtained, but rearing operations were interrupted by absence from 

 Washington. At the same time the commonest of the mosquitoes 

 at Washington was found to be Gulex consobrinus. This latter species 

 was one which was studied by the writer in 1892 in the Catskill Moun- 

 tains, near Tannersville, Greene County, K. Y. This species in Wash- 

 ington became, during August, more abundant than C.pungens. Octo- 

 ber 25, however, the writer found both species in his house, which they 

 had evidently entered for hibernation. In 1893 several specimens of 

 pungens were taken in the month of January in the cellar of his house 

 in Georgetown. This hibernation in cellars as well as in outhouses 

 is very common, although it is not frequently referred to. Specimens 

 of G. consobrinus were received in November, 1894, from J. M. Wade, of 

 Boston, with the statement that they were abundant in his cellar in 

 that city. The cellar was very cold, although in one corner there was 

 a tin furnace pipe. The mosquitoes avoided the warm corner, and were 

 always thickest in the cold parts of the cellar. So abundant were they 

 that if a lamp were held up the inside of the chimney would soon be 

 covered half an inch thick with their bodies. 



The degree of cold seems to make no difference with this successful 

 hibernation. Arctic explorers have long since recorded the abundance 

 of mosquitoes in the extreme north. In the narrative of C. F. Hall's 

 second arctic expedition the statement is made that mosquitoes appeared 

 on the 7th of July, 18G9, in extraordinary abundance. Dr. E. Sterling, 

 of Cleveland, Ohio, has sent us an account of the appearance of mos- 

 quitoes by thousands in March, 1844, when he was on a snowshoe trip 

 from Mackinaw to Sault Ste. Marie. Their extraordinary numbers at 

 this season of the year is remarkable, indicating a most plentiful 

 hibernation. Mr. H. Stewart, of Forth Carolina, has written us of a 

 similar experience on the north shore of Lake Superior in 18G6. On 

 warm days in March, when the snow was several feet deep and the ice 

 on the lake 5 feet in thickness, mosquitoes appeared in swarms, " literally 

 blackening the banks of snow in the sheltered places." The Indians 

 told Mr. Stewart that the mosquitoes lived through the winter, and 

 that the old ones were the most annoying to them. May 9, 1896, Mr. 

 Lugger sent the writer from St. Anthony Park, Minn., specimens of G. 

 consobrinus, stating that it came in a genuine swarm in April, with a 

 heavy snowstorm, at a time when all of the lakes were covered with 

 ice — "Minnesota's most certain crop." 



It is a well-known fact that the adult male mosquito does not neces- 

 sarily take nourishment, and that the adult female does not necessarily 

 rely upon the blood .of warm-blooded animals. They are plant feeders 



