19 
Eggs of Culicidae. 
only wing folds, the eighth seldom seen. Other folds like them 
also occur in various species on other parts of the wing; they are 
never scaled, are not of the same structure as veins, and cannot 
be looked upon as such. In a large number of Culicidae the 
third long vein passes some way into the basal cell, and certainly 
does not arise from the second long vein. 
The legs are long, but not so .long as in the Tipulidae , the 
hind metatarsus being usually long (except in Mochlonyx ) ; the 
ungues are nearly always equal and small in the ^ , and may or 
may not be toothed; in the £ the fore and mid ungues are 
unequal and are toothed in various ways, but have rarely more 
than two serrations; the hind ones are always equal; the legs 
are scaly, except the coxae and trochanters, which are usually 
nude, but with occasional patches of squamae. 
The chief characters by which the Culicidae are distinguished 
are— 
(1) The piercing mouth. 
(2) The scaled veins, head, thorax, body, &c. 
(3) The venation composed of six distinct longitudinal veins 
and two prominent fork-cells, with their covering of 
scales, the costal vein being carried right round the 
edge of the wing. 
EGGS OF CULICIDAE. 
From what little we know concerning the eggs of Culicidae, it 
appears that each genus has not only a differently formed egg, but 
often a different manner of depositing them. We know at least 
the ova of Culex, Stegomyia, Panoplites, Anopheles and Corethra. 
The eggs of Culex pipiens (Fig. 15, c) are well-known natural 
history objects. They are laid on the surface of the water in boat¬ 
shaped masses, and were described first by Reaumur over one 
hundred and fifty years ago. All Culex (in the restricted sense) 
eggs are apparently laid in this way. The ova are oblong, slightly 
curved towards one end, and this end, which is narrowed and 
pointed, is placed upwards, so that when a number are joined 
together a concave “raft” is formed; at the lower end of each 
ovum is a kind of lid, really more a thinning of the eggshell, through 
which the larva escapes into the water. These groups, or “ rafts,” 
as they are popularly called, consist of from 200 to 400 eggs, 
which are held together by their sticky surfaces and are placed in 
c 2 
