THE SWARMING OF ANOPHELINE MOSQUITOES 1 
By Charles S. Banks 
Professor of Entomology, University of the Philippines 
The swarming of Culicidse has been reported from all parts 
of the world where these insects are found. Almost every rec- 
ord of such swarming has to do with members of the subfamily 
Culicinse, as far as it is possible to ascertain. W. W. Smith 
says 2 that in New Zealand “a train passed through a wall of 
mosquitoes three quarters of a mile in length, twenty feet high 
and eighteen inches thick” and that this swarm was composed 
of Culex ( Uranotsenia ) argyropus Walk. J. W. Douglas re- 
ports 3 a similar occurrence in London, where for ten days 
hordes of members of the genus Culex swarmed over the neigh- 
borhood and appeared like smoke when it issues from chimneys. 
They rose in the air for 10 meters and continually danced up 
and down in the twilight stillness. Holiday 4 records a like 
phenomenon in which Culicada nemorosa Meig. (synonym Culex 
detritus) was the species. F. V. Theobald 5 gives an account 
of Culex pipiens L. on the Downs, near Wye, England, “dancing 
in little clouds where they were sheltered from the wind.” 
Romolo Gessi Pascha 6 speaks of myriads of mosquitoes, which 
obscured the air at Meshra-el-Rek. 
Accounts similar to these have come from every Arctic ex- 
plorer; and persons who have returned from Juneau, Nome, 
and Skagway, as well as other parts of Alaska, and from northern 
Siberia including Kamchatka Peninsula, even north of the 
Arctic Circle, mention the immense swarms of mosquitoes that 
are to be encountered. It would seem from the reports that 
many of the swarms there were made up largely of females, 
which accords with my observations in northern New York in 
years gone by. The consensus seems to be that the swarms 
1 From the entomological laboratory, College of Agriculture, University 
of the Philippines, Los Banos. 
2 Ent. Mo. Mag. (1890) 321. 
3 Ibid. (1895) 239. 
1 The Entomologist 1 (1883) 151. 
0 Monograph of the Culicidas of the World 1 (1901) 73. 
0 Seven Years in the Soudan (1892) 47. 
283 
