r 
A MONOGRAPH 
OF THE 
CULICIDAE OF THE WORLD. 
THE STRUCTURE OF A TYPICAL MOSQUITO. 
Teie mosquitoes or Culicidae belong to the order of insects known 
as Diptera. The essential character of this order is the presence 
of only two wings, the second pair being represented by a pair of 
club-shaped processes called “balancers” or “halteres.” Dr. 
Sharpe * describes the order as possessing “ two membranous 
wings, mouth suctorial, metamorphosis great,” and this is all 
that really need be said of the order of “ two-winged flies.” 
All that is necessary here is to point out the general structure 
of a typical member of the family Culicidae that is included in 
this large, neglected and yet most important order of the 
Hexajjoda. There are some other diptera sometimes confused 
with them, such as the Midges, Chironomidae, the Gall Midges, 
Cecidomyidae, and a few others referred to on page 91. 
I have not entered into the minute structural detail, which 
is not essential for the knowledge required for the identification 
of these insects. For minute detail of the structure the reader is 
referred to the writings of Hurst, Dimmock, Giles, and others, 
whose works and papers will be found tabulated at the end of 
this monograph. 
As in all other hexapoda, so in the mosquito, the insect is 
divided into three regions: (i.) the head * (ii.) the thorax; 
and (iii.) the abdomen. To the first two divisions are articu¬ 
lated various appendages—sensory and masticatory to the head, 
ambulatory to the thorax. 
* (limb. Nat. Hist. Ins. pt. i. p. 173. 
VOL. I. 
B 
