Id 
mosquitoes appeared on the 7th of July, 1869, in extraordinary 
abundance, and of Dr. E. Sterling, of Cleveland, Ohio, who sent us an 
account of the appearance of mosquitoes by thousands in March, 1844, 
when he was on a snowshoe trip from Mackinaw to Sault Ste. Marie. 
Their extraordinary appearance at that season of the year was remark- 
able as indicating a most plentiful hibernation. Mr. H. Stewart, of 
North Carolina, was also quoted as noticing, on the north shore of 
Lake Superior, in 1866, in the warm days of March, when the snow was 
several feet deep and the ice on the lake 5 feet in thickness, that mos- 
quitoes appeared in swarms, ‘‘literally blackening the banks of snow 
in the sheltered places.” Dr. Otto Lugger was also quoted as stating 
that Culex consobrinus made its appearance in April, 1896, at St. 
Anthony Park, Minnesota, in a genuine swarm with a heavy snow- 
storm, at a time when all the lakes were covered with ice. 
Dr. Lugger has also called the writer’s attention to the fact that Dr. 
Emile Bessels, of the Polaris expedition, was obliged to interrupt his 
work in Davis Straits (latitude 72° N.) on account of the multitude of 
these insects. 
Length of life of the adult mosquito.—A curious and as yet unex- 
plained point in regard to a phase of mosquito existence is their extra- 
ordinary abundance at certain times upon dry prairies miles from water, 
which-has led to the very generally accepted idea among far Western- 
ers that all mosquitoes do not need pools of stagnant water in which to 
breed, but that certain of them must have some other breeding habit. 
This supposition still appears incredible to the writer, who is much 
more inclined to attribute this abundance in dry regions to a greater 
longevity on the part of the adult mosquitoes of certain species than 
has been proven, thus enabling these great swarms to live from one 
rainy spell to. another, no matter how widely separated. The gravid 
females of most insects seem to be able to live until they have oppor- 
tunity for appropriate oviposition. The writer is frequently asked as 
to the duration of the adult stage of mosquitoes, but beyond the 
statement that although adults hibernate, living in this condition from 
November until April or May in the latitude of Washington, he is 
obliged to state that they die rather quickly in confinement in the 
summer. He has had living specimens of Anopheles quadrimaculatus 
confined in breeding jars for eight days, all dying, however, at the 
expiration of that time. Dr. Woldert has kept adults for fifteen days 
in a wide-mouthed bottle in which was placed a small slice of banana, 
the gauze with which the bottle was covered being sprinkled every 
day. Other specimens were kept from fifty to sixty days, but this 
was in the late fall, and many of them would probably have hiber- 
nated. Dr. Manson states that they may be kept for weeks in a glass 
vessel containing a piece of ripe banana, the banana being renewed 
every three or four days. 
