66 
MALARIA 
Plate I. Wings of nearetic Anopheles: A, crucians; B, maculipennis; C, punctipennis; D, pseudo- 
punctipennis; E, walkeri; F, atropos; G, quadrimacllatus; H, harheri (from King, Bradley and McNeel 
1939). 
found reliable in some of tbe oriental spe¬ 
cies, so it would appear desirable to reex¬ 
amine the question in larger series of spec¬ 
imens. 
As might be expected, in view of its wide 
range, A. 'punctipennis shows a great deal 
of variation in the wing markings, and to a 
lesser degree in larval characters. The 
wings usually have large and very distinct 
white spots, but the white may be greatly 
reduced or even practically lacking in some 
individuals. A series of speciihens from 
central Florida placed beside a series from 
the Northwest would almost certainly be 
taken for different species at first glance. 
The dark form has in fact been described 
as another species (Anopheles perplexans 
Ludlow 1907), which was placed in syn¬ 
onymy, as all intergradations appear to 
occur. 
The taxonomic status of Anopheles 
pseudopunctipennis in the United States is 
somewhat confusing at the present time. 
Anopheles franciscanus was described 
from California by McCracken in 1904 but 
later placed as a synonym of A. pseudo¬ 
punctipennis. Freeborn (1926) noted that 
the mesosome of male specimens in Cali¬ 
fornia were without leaflets although these 
had been recorded as present in material 
from Mexico. Vargas (1939b) described 
Anopheles boydi as a California species 
differing from the typical pseudopuncti¬ 
pennis in certain egg characters. Aitken 
(1941) after an extended study has come 
to the conclusion that typical pseudopunc¬ 
tipennis does not occur in California and 
and that the common form in that region 
is franciscanus, which he treats as a sub¬ 
species of pseudopunctipennis. This form 
has very delicate mesosomal leaflets. He 
also thinks that boydv may be a variety of 
franciscanus, represented by the material 
in' which the leaflets are lacking. 
One of the distinguishing characters 
given by Aitken for the California inaterial 
(both forms) is the absence of tails on the 
larval spiracular plate. These have been 
described from tropical material and were 
noted by Aitken on specimens from New 
