194 
A Monograph of Calicidae. 
Grassi looks upon this species as chiefly a domestic insect, 
and records finding them in houses, sheds, stables, and chicken 
coops. They are also found beneath bridges when the weather 
becomes cold in North Italy. Both Grassi and Picalbi state 
that it occurs most frequently in flat land. Its food, both $ 
and 9 ? according to my observations, is entirely vegetable, 
but Eicalbi states that it is very troublesome to animals and 
man in Italy, where it is very common, especially in small 
houses near water. 1 have never known this species attack 
human beings, aud yet I have lived in districts where it often 
occurs in great numbers and other mosquitoes are trouble¬ 
some. I have seen them settled on Compositae, sucking out the 
juices of the flowers, and I believe, in England anyhow, they are 
now seldom blood-suckers. In warmer climates they nevertheless 
seem to be sanguinary, the bite being said to be very sharp and 
irritating. Van der Scheer and Van Berlekom, who have 
recently studied an outbreak of malaria in Zeeland, found this 
species in houses, stables, &c., feeding on both human and 
animal blood. K)ne-fifth of the insects examined contained 
malarial parasites in the stomach walls. 
Professor Nuttall informs me its distribution in England 
agrees with the old malarious districts, an interesting feature 
when we remember how plentiful ague, a form of malaria, was 
in England at one time, and that now this mosquito seems to 
have given up its blood-loving habits. 
According to Grassi, this is the species that is most concerned 
in the communication of human malaria in Italy. The £ makes 
a loud drumming noise, which I have never heard made by the $ . 
Say’s A. quadriniaculata is the same species as A. maculijpennis. 
A large series has been received from E. M. Walker, collected 
in Canada, which agree in all respects with our European 
form. Sometimes the hibernating females have the wing spots 
quite denuded, and then resemble superficially Anopheles hi- 
furcatus, L. 
There is great variation in the size of A. maculipennis , as much 
as 2 mm. difference between specimens from the same locality. 
This may be noticed in the Canadian series as well as those taken 
in England. 
The large series of this species that have been received from 
Mr. E. M. Walker were collected at and near De Grassi Point, 
Lake Simcoe, Ontario. They were nearly all taken on the 
window-panes in cottages near the lake and from a boat-house. 
