98 



The culices of South America have generally 

 the wings, corselet, and legs of an azure co- 

 lour, annulated, and variable from a mixture 

 of spots of metallic lustre. Here, as in Europe, 

 the males, which are distinguished by their fea- 

 thered antennae, are extremely rare; you are 

 seldom stung except by females. The pre- 

 ponderance of this sex explains the immense 

 increase of the species, each female laying seve- 

 ral hundred eggs. In going up one of the great 

 rivers of America, it is observed, that the appear- 

 ance of a new species of culex denotes the prox- 

 imity of a new stream flowing in. I shall men- 

 tion an instance of this curious phenomenon. 

 The culex lineatus, which belongs to the canno 

 of Tamalamee, is only perceived in the valley of 

 the Rio Grande de la Magdalena at a league 

 north of the junction of the two rivers; it goes 

 up, but scarcely ever descends the Rio Grande. 

 It is thus, that, on a principal view, the appear- 

 ance of a new substance in the gangue indicates 

 to the miner the neighbourhood of a secondary 

 vein, that joins the first. 



On recapitulating the observations which we 



Habitat cum praecedenti. 



5. Culex Maculatus, viridi-fuscescens, annulis octo albis, 

 ahs virescentibus j maculis tribus anticis, atro-cceruleis, auro 

 immixtis; pedibus fuscis, basi alba. 



Habitat cum c.feroce et c. chloroptero in ripa fluminis Rio 

 de Guayaquil propter las Bodegas de Babaoyo. 



