57 
Habits of Adult Mosquitoes . 
New Amsterdam, Australia, Ceylon, India, and Mashonaland. 
At one place at least Megarhinus is a troublesome mosquito, 
namely in S. India; regarding which Captain James writes me 
as follows: “Amongst the mosquitoes which are prevalent in 
the place where I am at present is a kind which the natives 
call the ‘elephant mosquito.’ It bites badly, and its bite is 
considered very poisonous.” From Captain James’s description it 
is evidently M. immisericors, Wlk., which occurs in Ceylon, India, 
and the Malay Peninsula. As one would expect from their 
brilliant coloration, Megarhinus are day fliers. Anopheles chiefly 
inhabit swampy regions and the neighbourhood of human 
dwellings. Our European A. hifurcatus I have found attacking 
people round woods, &c., but have never seen this species under 
cover ; on the other hand, A. maculipennis is almost exclusively 
found indoors and in privies, the latter forming a favourite 
haunt. Numberless specimens of several distinct species have 
been sent from Malay, India, Africa, &c., taken in hospitals, 
houses, tents, &c., showing their domestic partialities, but many 
have also been sent (as A. paludis ) from swamps and swampy 
country. 
When at rest an Anopheles may be generally distinguished 
by its position from a Culex. Major Ronald Ross pointed this 
interesting habit out some time ago. Anopheles, when settled, 
generally rest with their proboscis pointed to the wall and their 
body at a considerable angle to the wall, resembling a “ thorn 
fixed to the surface,” whilst in Culex the insect’s body is nearly 
parallel or the apex points to the surface (Figs. 21 and 22). 
Although this is a general rule, it is not invalid, for I have 
seen A. maculipennis settled just as in Culex, and Culex pipiens 
nearly at such an angle as the Anopheles. But in all cases the 
proboscis is on a line with the thorax and abdomen in Anopheles, 
whilst in Culex it is bent at an angle, as is clearly shown by 
Mr. Waterhouse’s excellent diagram (Fig. 21). Colonel Giles 
has sent me photographs of these two genera resting, from 
which the figures on page 59 have been reproduced.* 
In both cases the insect holds on to the wall or ceiling by 
the fore- and mid-legs only, the hind ones being free, and often 
moved about in the air like the feelers or antennae of a moth. 
Female Anopheles are blood-suckers, but not exclusively so, for 
in our European species, A. maculipennis —often wrongly called A. 
* Colonel Giles has brought back a new Anopheles from India which, when 
at rest, exactly assumes the position of Culex. 
