84 
A Monograph of Culicidae. 
I have had specimens taken in a great variety of places, such 
as deep woods, the borders of lakes, along ditches, cuttings, &c. 
In Canada such localities as the following are given: Trout 
Creek, nr. Toronto, very abundant in woods; “common on the 
borders of a marsh”; “from a dry wood”; “common in rich 
woods and swamps.” Ficalbi’s variety, salinus , occurs in the 
larval stage in salt water, having been found in the salt marshes 
of Cagliari, but is also capable of existing, says Ficalbi, in fresh 
water. Generally speaking, the larvae occur in small ditches, in 
woods and fields, and even in lakes of considerable size. 
This wood gnat varies very considerably both in size and 
colour. I have seen the 9’s only 6 mm. long, whilst others are 
9 mm. 
The thorax generally has a darker broad median line of 
deeper-coloured scales, but this line may be almost absent or it 
may be divided into two. In some specimens the borders of the 
darker median area are very pale, forming two thin, pale golden 
lines—no doubt the two white lines on the mesonotum mentioned 
by Walker (Ins. Brit. Dipt.). The deeper median area to the 
thorax is, however, very characteristic, but, as I gather from 
Ficalbi’s description, as well as from specimens I have examined, 
there may be no special ornamentation, the difference in colour 
being very slight. Hot only is the thorax subject to variation, 
but so also is the abdomen; the basal banding may be pale 
creamy-white or it may be pale yellow in colour; in nearly all 
cases the bands spread out laterally, forming more or less distinct 
lateral patches. One specimen I have examined shows these 
patches as almost white, while the bands are yellow. The basal 
bands are usually contracted in the middle, in some cases so 
much so that the abdomen looks unbanded, but with large 
lateral spots; in a few instances I have seen the basal bands 
spread out a little in the middle of the segments. The general 
venation of the wings is similar, but there is some variation in 
the relative length of some of the veins; the posterior cross-vein 
may be distant, for instance, its own length from the mid cross¬ 
vein, or rather less than its own length. Ficalbi’s variety, 
salinus , has the thorax deep umber-brown, and the dorsum of 
the abdomen speckled with hazel-coloured scales on the posterior 
three-fourths of the segments, nearly white on the anterior 
one-fourth; the venter is also pale yellowish, with a black spot 
on either side of the posterior parts of the third to seventh 
segments, and also an unpaired spot in the middle, giving the 
