a handbook of the mosquitoes of north america - Systematic Catalog ...

126 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA
and over the ventral surface but the dorsal surface is open except
for a very thin membrane which appears to form a closure. Lobes
of the ninth tergite approximate and each bears 4 or 5 short, stout
spines.
Larva. (Fig. 1, Pl. XIX.) Length 7 mm. Head broader than
long; antennae spined all over with small and large spines; tuft small,
arising before the middle. Upper dorsal head hairs in fours, lower
in twos or threes; anteantennal tuft multiple. Abdomen with lateral
hairs double on the first segment, single on the second to the sixth.
Eighth segment with a comb of scales arranged in a double row; anal
segment longer than wide; dorsal chitinous plate reaching near to the
mid-ventral line, the ventral margin deeply incised; dorsal brush con-
sists of a long hair and a tuft on each side; ventral brush well de-
veloped with tufts preceding the barred area near to the base. Anal
gills ensiform, short and rather bluntly pointed. Air-tube about two
and one-half times as long as wide; pecten reaching the middle of the
tube, the last two or three teeth stouter and detached; a large mul-
tiple tuft just at the end of pecten.
This species is widely distributed throughout the northern
United States and Canada. There is but a single brood a sea-
son. It hibernates in the egg stage. The larvae are found in
woodland pools filled by the melting snows and early spring
rains. It seems to prefer the shallow pools with a dense floor
of rotting leaves. The larvae appear somewhat later than those
of Aedes stinzztlaw, A. fitchii or A. excwcia~m. The adults are
abundant throughout the season and attack with avidity even
during the day. They are long lived for I have collected them
as late as September (September 9). Dyar states that this
species readily invades houses but I have never taken them
in houses though I have found them abundantly in wooded
areas throughout the season.
AEDES IMPIGER Walker
Culex iwzfiger Walker, List. Dipt. Brit. Mus. 1, 6. 1848.
Aedes decticus Howard, Dyar and Knab, Mosq. N. and Cent.
Amer. and W.I. 4, 737. 1917.
Female. Length 4 mm.; wing about 4 mm. Proboscis slender,
long, black. Occiput black, clothed with white, curved scales medianly,
a brown patch each side; nape with narrow, erect, black scales;