PREFACE. 
The growth of our knowledge of the family Culicide has been told so 
often that there is no need for me to recapitulate it here. Some expla- 
nation is however necessary to account for the issuing of a part of the 
Indian Insect Catalogue dealing with this family so soon after Brunetti’s 
of 1920. The latter covered the whole Oriental Region and the Austro- 
Malayan subregion in addition, and was strictly systematic in character. . 
The present catalogue is confined to those subregions of the Oriental 
dealt with in the “ Fauna of British India ”’ series, and aims at giving 
every reference to the mosquitoes of that area, systematic and bionomic, 
that can be of value to workers in any line of Entomology. With this 
object a considerable mass of literature has been searched that was not 
laid under contribution by Brunetti, which has had, among other results, 
that of broadening the recorded distribution of a good many species from 
the Malayan to the Indian region. No attempt, however, has been 
made to catalogue the literature of Indian malaria in regard to aspects 
other than entomological, since to do so would have been beyond the 
scope of the Committee responsible for the production of this catalogue. 
The arrangement of the catalogue further varies somewhat from that 
adopted by Brunetti. The synonyms of each species, and the arrange- 
ment of these latter within the genus, have been recorded alphabeti- 
cally, to facilitate ease of reference by workers other than systematists, 
and the authorities for the recorded distribution of each species are made 
apparent. 
That our knowledge of the Indian Culicid fauna is still very incom- 
plete there can be no doubt whatever. New species still come to know- 
ledge and Malayan species turn up in comparatively well-worked areas 
such as Ceylon and the Khasis. A thorough investigation of those locali- 
ties of the Empire with Malayan faunal affinities will almost certainly 
reveal many more such. No species of the family whatever are recorded 
' from the Nicobars and the Maldives. The family is now represented 
by 28 genera containing a total of 160 valid species and varieties. 
In regard to synonomy, I took advantage of the visit of Major Chris- 
tophers, C.I.E., I.M.S., of the Central Malaria Bureau, Kasauli, to the 
Fourth Entomological Meeting at Pusa in February 1921, to discuss with 
him in detail the whole of the synonomy now adopted, and would express 
my great appreciation of his readily accorded help and criticism. 









