9 
numbers. It was noted that they always choose the darkest 
spots in which to rest, and sit in a highly characteristic attitude, 
their bodies being maintained at an angle of, at least, 45° to the 
surface. The elongated palpi (a diagnostic character of the 
female Anopheles, as distinguished from the female Culex) are 
carried pressed close to the proboscis, and stretched straight out 
in front of the body, thus giving the appearance of a thick beak. 
It frequently happens that the tips of the palpi are in contact with 
the wall on which the insect is resting, and the body is elevated 
so much that it is practically at right angles to the surface, so 
that the insect appears as if standing on its head. 
Owing to this extremely characteristic resting attitude of 
Anopheles, it would be impossible for anyone who had once seen 
a specimen at rest to mistake it for a Culex, for the latter when 
at rest always allows its body to hang down vertically. Since, as 
already stated, so far as we know at present, Anopheles alone 
(and not Culex) carries the malaria parasite, the practical 
importance of this distinction is evident. 
On this occasion we failed to lind the breeding place of the 
Anopheles ; indeed, it was not until nearly a fortnight later that 
we succeeded in discovering the origin of the fever-carrying 
mosquitoes. 
On the other hand, although we had met with no specimens of 
Culex in the asylum, we found a large banded species of this 
genus breeding in numbers in three large tubs nearly full of 
rain-water, standing in the garden about 40 yards from the ward 
in which we had found the Anopheles, and separated from it by 
a stone wall some 15 feet high. 
During our stay at Freetown we were much struck with the Breeding 
way in which Culex avails itself of even the smallest collection ^ alms (,t 
J , Culex at 
of stagnant rain-water for breeding purposes. Thus, the small Freetown, 
quantities of water that collect in such discarded rubbish as old 
bottles, Swiss milk and sardine tins, and coconut husks 
frequently swarm with larvae ; while the water that accumulates 
in disused calabashes and other vessels, which the thoughtlessness 
of natives and even Europeans allows to lie about outside houses, 
is invariably turned to account by the insects. Although, so tar 
