MOSQUITOES (CTJLICIDJE) . 
85 
and Cycloleppteron, in which the palpi are as long as the proboscis 
in both sexes, but are more swollen at the tips in the males. 
In JEchs, jEdeomyia, and Uranotcenia the palpi are short in both 
sexes, but the plumose $ antennae will separate $ from ? . It is 
particularly requested that males should be sent with their females. 
Method of Collecting and Killing. 
Mosquitoes may be captured in the open ; an entomologist's 
collecting-net is then necessary, from which the insects can be 
transferred to glass-bottomed pill-boxes. In doing this great care 
must be taken not to pull off the legs. Inside buildings mosquitoes 
can easily be captured on walls and windows in the pill-boxes them- 
selves. Specimens are, however, best obtained in good condition by 
breeding them ; this can readily be done by keeping the larvae or 
pupae in a basin or jar of water covered over with book-muslin. In 
any case mosquitoes are best collected alive in the glass-bottomed 
pill-boxes.* Not more than a single specimen should be put alive 
in each box. To kill the mosquitoes the box is opened a fraction of 
an inch on one side, and placed for a few minutes in a cyanide 
killing-jar, f which must, of course, be closed. They may also be 
killed by tobacco smoke or chloroform. If cyanide or tobacco smoke 
is used, they should not be left in the fumes more than ten minutes. 
* These boxes can be obtained from any dealer in natural history apparatus, 
but care should be taken to see that the bottoms — and not the tops, as is often 
the case — are made of glass. Since the boxes are constructed of cardboard, 
they are liable in tropical countries to go to pieces in the rains, and to prevent 
this they should be covered with jaconet (cut on the cross and stuck on with 
liquid glue), and then coated with Aspinall's enamel. 
f A cyanide killing-bottle can be procured ready for use from Hinton & Co., 
Bedford Street, London, W.C., or any other chemist will prepare one to order; 
but when mosquitoes (or indeed any Diptera) are collected in the manner 
here advised, it is preferable to make a large-sized killing-jar for oneself as 
follows : — Take any fairly large glass jar (such as a pickle-bottle), with a wide 
mouth and closely fitting lid, and cover the bottom with a layer of dry 
plaster of Paris to the depth of half an inch ; pour in above this a layer, equal 
in depth, consisting of powdered cyanide of potassium, mixed with rather 
