182 
A Monograph of Culicidae. 
of it. When empty it is not particularly dark and certainly not 
black, but varies in tint not only according to the abdominal 
contents, blood or eggs, but with age and even in different 
individuals reared from the same batch of eggs. 
“ It frequents houses, but does not leave them in the daytime, 
but remains out of the breeze in hangings, clothes, and par¬ 
ticularly in dark corners high up out of reach of the breeze from 
doors and windows. It feeds preferentially at night, especially 
in the early hours of the evening, but can and does feed at other 
times, even in daylight, both when free and in captivity. If 
allowed to feed to excess it voids fluid always stained with 
haemoglobin showing some haemolytic property of the saliva or 
digestive juices. This phenomenon occurs, but not constantly, 
with other mosquitoes. 
“ The blood in the stomach rapidly ceases to be the transparent 
red so marked in most Culices and appears in mass black and 
opaque, though unaltered red corpuscles are to be found more 
than twenty-four hours after feeding. Exclusive of the proboscis 
the mosquito measures 4 mm. The 9 when the abdomen is 
distended with blood is even a little less. 
“ The thora^ is dark brown with a yellowish tinge and no 
conspicuous markings ; the under surface is a little lighter in 
colour. The abdomen is ,a dark bluish-grey, lighter at the 
junction of the segments. In some it is darker than others, and 
newly-hatched and very old mosquitoes are the lightest. Dis¬ 
tended with blood it appears black, and distended with eggs 
much lighter. The legs are dark brown, lighter at the joints 
but without definite banding. The wings are £ dappled. 5 The 
proboscis in the 9 is about 1 • 7 mm. in length ; it has the usual 
thick appearance of the Anopheles. It is very dark brown, 
lighter at the tip and witb two white bands across it. The 
lighter colour at the tip and the two bands are really on the 
palpi, but as in life they are in close approximation; the bands 
appear to extend right across without any break. They are not 
equally obvious in all positions. The antennae, about 1 mm. in 
length, are fine, and beyond jointing have no markings. In the 
$ the antennae are feathered, and so are the tips of the palpi, 
which are more definitely white than in the 9 • The palpi do 
not extend quite to the end of the proboscis. 55 
