39 
animals in South Queensland. Ify will live up to^five months in 
confinement, but refuses to oviposit. Owing to the shape of the 
egg raft, which is long, often half an inch, and very narrow, and 
jet black in colour, there is no difficulty in obtaining the eggs from 
collections of water near habitations. 
The larvae devour other mosquito larvae, and also their 
own species ; one larva will kill twenty larvae its own size in a 
day ; they prefer larvae to other species to their own, possibly 
because the latter are harder to catch. If you place an egg raft 
containing one hundred or so eggs in a glass jar with water, as 
soon as the larvae emerge, they commence eating each other, and 
in two or three days only one larva will remain. They seize 
the larvae on the surface of the water generally by the tail, 
and swallow it tail first ; should the victim by its wriggling be 
able to sink to the bottom, the victor lets go its hold and comes 
to the surface to catch a fresh one ; the victim, however, cannot 
again rise to the surface to breathe, and very soon dies. Several 
larvae will kill, in a few days, in this way, all the larvae of other 
species, that may be in a well or water-butt ; after that they 
watch each other all day and night ; should one relax its 
attention for a moment, it will be caught ; owing to this awful 
cannibalism, the species never increases in numbers. 
This species might be justly termed a useful mosquito. 
The larvae have peculiarities, which are described as follow r s 
by Theobald : — The larvae is quite different from others of Culex 
type. It is 10 mm. long, and greyish-brown in colour ; the 
head ha* large fan organs like a Megarhinus, a truncated clypeus 
and simple antennae ending in two spine-like bodies, one broader 
than the other, and two terminal bristles and two lateral ones 
near the apex ; the head is much smaller than the thorax, and 
provided with simple hairs only ; the eyes prominent. Thorax 
large, with lateral branched hairs arising from the side of brown 
conical papillae. Abdomen composed of nine segments, the 
first six with lateral plumose hairs arising from brown prominent 
papillae, flatter than those of the thorax ; seventh segment 
devoid of the papillae ; the siphon very short, arising from the 
eighth segment, serrated on its upper edge with long hairs and two 
rows of short spines on the low r er, one row mixed up with the fan 
of hairs : ninth segment terminates in two long bristles and has 
about eleven long branched hairs forming the ventral fan ; the 
upper border is serrated. The pupa is about 9 mm. long, with 
siphons much as in Culex, but the opening is larger and more 
lateral. The anal fan is peculiar. On the posterior borders 
of the segments are some branched hairs. 
Culex occidentalis. — 'Skuse (1888). 
2 ■ Head bro wn, with long golden-yellow curved scales in 
the middle and bordering the eyes, and between them a band on 
each side reddish-brown in colour, composed of dark curved 
