i + o THOMPSON YATES AND JOHNSTON LABORATORIES REPORT 
Acartomyia larvae are not found in pools which are connected with the sea itself, 
for, then, the water does not contain a sufficient degree of concentration of the salt. 
The water need not necessarily be clean, for we found Acartomyia in a pool on the 
rocks at Beyrut, which also contained old boots, tins, cabbages, and refuse of all 
sorts, and which, in some places, was six feet deep. The pools at Malta, however, 
are very clean, and only contain sea-weed. 
The larvae do not seem to object to direct sunlight, for, in many of these pools, 
there is no shade, and these swarm with these mosquitoes. After the imago has 
hatched out from the pupa, the pupa-case floats for twenty-four hours ; the female 
mosquitoes sometime utilize these floating pupa-cases to stand on when laying their 
eggs. At the end of about twenty-four hours the pupa-case sinks to a certain depth, 
where it is eaten by the young generation of larvae, so that the water is kept clean by 
the larvae themselves, unless extraneous decomposing matter is thrown into it. 
The process of hatching takes about half-an-hour ; the pupa becomes stationary 
at the surface of the water ; then the back of its thorax splits transversely, and the 
head with the antennae and proboscis appear, followed by the two fore legs which are 
thrust out through the openings and rest on the surface of the water, their points making 
minute depressions on the surface of the water, which are very pretty to observe; 
the upper part of the thorax of the imago then appears, and the second pair of legs 
are placed upon the water behind the first. The upper part of the wings can 
then be seen, and when these are first delivered are folded together like a pair of 
scissors. 
It is m this stage that the insect is most readily drowned, for the birth of the 
hind pair of legs and the abdomen takes by far the longest, but while this is going 
on the wings are opened to prevent wetting, and the half-hatched imago balances 
itself with them, while the hind pair of legs are slowly drawn out of the pupa-case. 
When completely free of the pupa-case the imago rests for about ten minutes 
on the empty pupa-skin and is blown about by the wind ; at first it is feeble, but it 
is soon able to fly away. 
Only the fertilized females feed on blood. 
We have tried scores of times to get the unfertilized females to bite, but have 
always failed. 
The fertilized females can generally be recognized by the shape of the lower 
part of the abdomen, which is much fuller owing to the presence of the maturing 
eggs. 
Coitus does not necessarily take place on the wing, for I have observed it occur 
when the female is resting on the edge of the glass jar or sitting on the rock ; the 
male clasping the female when she is resting. When the female is waiting for the 
male she waves her hind legs over her back in a disconsolate sort of way. 
