75 
Natural Enemies of Mosquitoes. 
which about a quart of flies a day is caught. These flies are then 
fed to the fish ” (Bull. 25, p. 54). 
Birds and bats of course also devour Culicidae amongst other 
insects. One instance recorded in the “American Naturalist ” 
(1880, p. 896) shows that the nighthawk takes large numbers, 
six hundred being found in the crop of one bird. Swallows, 
martins, flycatchers, &c., do no end of good in keeping the 
numbers down, especially the first two birds. I have frequently 
seen the swallow and house martins catching Anopheles as 
they were flying round and into my house towards the evening. 
No doubt bats which fly round houses also do much good ; the 
lights from the windows attract large numbers of insects, and so 
the bats hunt in the “insect lines” round the house. Dragon 
flies ( Odonata ) have also been shown to be of much use in 
hunting and destroying Culicidae, especially in the larval state. 
Vide the Lamborn Prize Essays, “ Dragon Flies vs. Mosquitoes ” 
(Aaron, Weeks, Beutenmiiller). 
Larvae of the water-beetles of the families Dijtiscidae, 
Gyrinidae, and Hydrophilidae also feed on mosquito larvae, as 
also do various aquatic Heteroptera. 
CULICIDAE ATTACKED BY FUNGI. 
A fungus of the family Entomophthorae has been recorded as 
attacking the adult stage of certain mosquitoes. The species 
is Entomophthora sphaerosperma of Fresenius. According to 
Dr. Thaxter,* this fungus is peculiar in that it attacks widely 
different insects, except Orthoptera. Amongst Diptera it has been 
especially noticed in the Culicidae, and has been known to occur 
in an epidemic form. This fungus was described by Fresenius 
in 1856. It is also found in Europe. Another species,| Empusa 
culicis, Braun, very similar to the Empusa musca that attacks 
the “house-fly,” also destroys Culex both in Europe and America. 
The infected host generally attaches itself to the under side of 
leaves, to stones, walls, and the sides of tanks and butts ; the 
attachment is by threads which proceed from the mycelium in 
the body of the gnat. A third species | is also recorded by 
* Entomophthorae, U.S., p. 172, pt. ix., fig. 68, Thaxter; “Sylloge,” 
VII., No. 974, Saccardo. 
t Unicellular algae, p. 105, Braun; “ Entomop.,” U.S., p. 157, Thaxter ; 
“ Sylloge,” VII., p. 969, iSaccardo. 
1 “Entomop.,” p. 166, Thaxter. 
