CULICIDM 



789 



termed ' millions/ which lived in shallow water, was a voracious 

 feeder on eggs, larvae, and pupae of mosquitoes. These fish, which 

 belong to the species Girardinus pceciloides de Filippi, are found in 

 Barbados, which is very free from malaria. They are very small, 

 the full-grown female only measuring inches in length, while 

 the male is smaller. The female is dull in colour, while the male 

 is distinguished by red splashes and a black circular dot on its 

 sides. The great importance of these little fish is that they are 

 able to live in very shallow water, and to work their way in among 

 dense surface vegetation, and thus to gain access to the larvae, etc., 

 of the mosquitoes, which otherwise are protected by the weeds 

 from attacks by the larger fish. Their classification is Teleostei, 

 Haplomi, Cyprinodontidae, genus Haplochilus McClelland, 1839. 

 The family contains 220 species, of which only 50 live out of 

 America. Haplochilus has 24 species in Africa and 35 in Asia and 

 America. There is no doubt that these small fish should be intro- 

 duced into malarious places as a prophylactic measure against the 

 disease. Other closely allied species are G. versicolor Giinther, 

 found in St. Domingo, and G. formosus, found in Florida and South 

 Carolina. With regard to other species, Gambusea molliensia is said 

 to be of great value in consuming larv«, especially when protected 

 by dense surface vegetation. Recently Graham has reported that 

 Haplochilus grahami Boulenger, 1911, and H. bifasciatus Stein- 

 dachner, 1881, of the Cyprinodontidae, eat larvae greedily, while 

 Gowdey finds the same for Fundatus tceniopygus and Haplochilus 

 pumilus Boulenger, 1906, in Uganda. 



Certain plants, as is well known, collect water, especially the 

 bromelias, the bamboos, and the pitcher-plants. In this water 

 Culicine and sometimes Anopheline larvae can be found. E. E. 

 Green, of Ceylon, has shown that the flowers of the lobster-claw 

 plant (Heliconea brasiliensis) can hold a considerable amount of 

 water, in which he found Stegomyia and Desvoidea larvae in large 

 numbers. 



Classification. — Various methods of classifying mosquitoes have 

 been brought forward. The earliest were based upon the characters 

 of the palpi, but in 190 1 Theobald showed that they were useless 

 for anything but specific characteristics, and based his larger divi- 

 sions on the variations of the scales on the head, body, and wings. 

 Felt brought forward a classification based upon the male genitalia 

 and the wing veins, but, as Theobald remarks, the majority of 

 known mosquitoes being female, it is most undesirable to take only 

 male characters for the classification. Recently Dyar and Knab 

 have issued a classification of the Culicidae by larval characters, 

 and Eysell has advanced matters considerably by separating the 

 Corethrinae from the Culicidae under the term Corethridae, because 

 the Corethridae have an entire absence of the long piercing proboscis 

 and of scales in the adults, both of which are marked features of 

 the Culicidae. It will be evident that this is useful. Lutz has 

 brought forward a classification based^upon larval and adult forms. 



