^ A HANDBOOK OFTHE GNATS OR MOSQUITOES GIVING THE ANATOMY AND LIFE HISTORY OFTHE CULICID^ TOGETHER WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF ALL SPECIES NOTICED UP TO THE PRESENT DATE LIEUT.-COL GEO. M. GILES I.M.S (Retd.), M.B.Lond., F.R.C.S. Formerly Naturalist to the Indian Marine Survey Second Edition, Rewritten and Enlarged 3Lon&on JOHN BALE, SONS & DANIELSSON, Ltd. 83, 85, 87 & 89, GREAT TITCHFIELD STREET, OXFORD STREET, W. 1902
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
It is now well-nigh a year ago since my publisher telegraphed to me in India, requesting permission to reprint, on account of the entire first edition being "sold out," and I feel that some explanation is required of what might appear undue delay in meeting the demand for further copies. I felt at once, however, that a mere reprint was out of the question, though I had little idea of the magnitude of the task before me. The first edition had served its purpose in providing workers on the subject with a handy compilation of existing literature, for it neither was, nor professed to be, in any sense original ; but a year's work in a very malarious and much mosquito-beridden country had furnished me with material on which to found personal conclusions on many points, and so much had been written by other students of the subject, in all parts of the world, that it was clear that no mere compilation would now serve the purpose. The statements as to the anatomy of the adult insect, reproduced from various authors, in the first issue, I had already found were inaccurate in many points, and the chapter on that subject is now the result of a couple of months of constant work with the microtome, and by dissection. So much had been said and done on the question of malarial prophylaxis, that it was clear that a separate chapter on the subject was absolutely essential, and the net result of these, and other changes, was that when the scattered notes came to be put together, hardly a paragraph of the old matter of the first, or general, portion of the book remained in its original form, and it had been, for all practical purposes, rewritten.
I hoped, however, that the second, or systematic, portion would only require bringing up to date by inserting in
vi. Preface their places any new species that might have been described in the interval ; but, on reaching England, I found that, in this portion, practically none of the old material could be utilised. By the timely energy of the authorities of the British Museum, and of the Eoyal Society, an enormous collection of mosquitoes had been brought together; and the work of preparing a monograph of the family, based on the material so collected, had been entrusted to my friend, Mr. Theobald, who met me with the news that, to say nothing of some 160 new species, almost all the old descriptions were hopelessly inadequate, even where they were not positively misleading, and that he had found it necessary to revise the entire classification of the family. To adhere to the original plan of quoting original descriptions in extenso was obviously out of the question, as the text of Mr. Theobald's descriptions of new species would alone have filled more than the entire space of my first edition, and the only alternative was to redescribe, as concisely as possible, every member of the family, as illustrated in the splendid collection now at our disposal. In the case of the genus Anopheles, and of some other important genera, and generic types, the course adopted has been to prepare a new description from the actual specimens, but for the rank and file of the still enormous genus Culex, it proved more convenient, though I have seen and handled most of the species enumerated, to epitomise the descriptions of the monograph. In both cases the plan followed has been to carefully describe the same structures in all, and to append to each description, in smaller type, a few detailed characters ; emphasising those that separate the species from its neighbours ; but to save space, the conventional plan of repeating, in the detailed notes on a species, the characters already given in the short description, has been deliberately avoided. With this object, too, certain numbers and signs have been employed in the descriptions, the explanation of which will be found in the introductory remarks to the systematic portion and in those on the genus Anopheles.
From what has already been said, it follows that many
Preface vii.
of the descriptions embody, verbatim, entire paragraphs of Mr. Theobald's work, but the necessities of condensation have so frequently involved alterations of verbiage and sequence, that it has been found impracticable to indicate these by inverted commas, and I trust that this acknovi^ledgment will suffice to show how fully I realise my indebtedness to the Monograph for much of the matter of the following pages ; and I desire here to express my deep appreciation of the courtesy and kindness with which my work has been in every way facilitated by Professor Kay Lankester and the other authorities of the Museum, and in especial to Mr. Theobald, but for whose exceptional generosity in placing at my disposal early proof sheets, and in personally helping me in every possible way, the appearance of this edition must necessarily have been delayed for several additional months.
There are some hundreds of drawings in the new plates and figures which, with a few exceptions, have been drawn by the writer himself from camera lucida outlines, and it is needless to say that all these changes have taken much time, but were inevitable, if the new issue was not to be rendered almost immediately obsolete by the appearance of the Monograph.
To facilitate comparison of neighbouring species, the figures illustrating them have been, as far as possible, grouped into plates, instead of interspersing them in the text.
As to the question of which of the older names are mere redescriptions of one and the same species — the synonymy of the group — I have followed implicitly the new Monograph, and it must be understood that, in relegating any given name to this category, I merely reproduce, and desire to imply no personal opinion as to the justness or otherwise of the conclusions involved.
Saving only, then, those of some few species, of which no examples have come to hand, all the descriptions in the present edition are drawn up from actual observation, and no attempt has been made to reproduce the original descriptions.
viii. Preface The bibliography of the subject is akeady so extensive that the inclusion of any at all complete list of publications would add some fifteen or twenty pages to the book, without being of any real use to the majority of my readers, who must needs work far from libraries and museums ; while those more favourably situated can easily refer to the very complete lists included in Mr. Theobald's Monograph, as well as those appended to Professor Grassi's " Studi di uno Zoologo sulla Malaria," B. Acad, dei Lincei, Kome, 2nd edit., 1901 ; to Nuttall and Shipley's " Studies in Eelation to Malaria," Joium. of Hygiene, vol. i., Nos. 1, 2, 3 ; and to Dr. Edmonston Charles' " Letters from Kome, with Notes and Postscript by Major Konald Ross, F.E.S." Liverpool, 1901. Fairly complete systematic references will be found included in the descriptions of each species, in the second part of the book.
My thanks are also due to Professors Celli and Grassi, for placing the resources of their laboratories at my disposal during a short visit to Rome, and to friends and correspondents in all parts of the world, too numerous to mention, who have helped me by sending collections, and by contributing even more valuable observations.
In conclusion, I may mention that I shall always be grateful for specimens of mosquitoes, as well as of ticks, biting insects, and other pests obnoxious to man and animals. The small boxes and materials for collecting, that I used to send to friends good enough to collect, can now be obtained from Messrs. Baker, of 244, High Holborn, but I shall always be glad to do my best to identify specimens sent me, and to help other workers as far as lies in my power.
GEO. M. GILES.
Byfield, Mannamead, Plijmoiith, December 'lijt/i, 1901.
CONTENTS.
PAET I.— GENERAL.
PAGE Chapter I. — On the Position and Terminology of the Culieidce ... 1 Chapter II. — On Collecting, Preserving, and Appliances for Observation ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 19 Chapter III. — The Anatomy of the Larva 40 Chapter IV. — The Generic Characters of the Larvae of the Culieidce 58 Chapter V. — The Anatomy of the Pupa 66 Chapter VI. — The Anatomy of the Adult Mosquito ... ... 76 Chapter VII. — On the Life History and Seasonal Prevalence of Mosquitoes 112 Chapter VIII. — On the Conditions Influencmg the Prevalence of Mosquitoes, and on the Prophylaxis of Malaria... 152 Chapter IX. — On the Distribution of the CwZicitite 237 PART II.— SYSTEMATIC.
Chapter X. — On the Classification of the Family Chapter XI. — The Megarliinina Sub-family Chapter XII. — The Anophelina Sub-family ... Chapter XIII. — The Culicina Sub-family ... Chapter XIV. — The Mdomina Sub-family ... Chapter XV. — The Corethrina Sub-family . . . 254 265 280 333 475 500
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE Photographs of Living Mosquitoes ... ... ... ... ... 4 An Indian " Sand Fly " 5 Head of Female (7ttZe.r 8 Wing oi Culex 14 Leg of a Mosquito 17 Ficalbi's Trap Bottle 22 To Illustrate the Method of Pinning a Mosquito ... ... ... 26 To Illustrate the Method of packing Pinned Insects for Transmission by Post 27 Apparatus for Breeding-out Insects ... ... ... ... ... 29 Box with Glass Front and Back, for Photographing Living Mosquitoes in profile... ... .. ... ... ... ... ... 31 Case for Mosquitoes 32 Ventilated Box for forwarding Mosquitoes 32 Plate I. — To Illustrate the Anatomy of the Larva 39 The Median and Angular Bristles of the fore Margin of the Clypeus of five Species of larval J.«q2j7ieZes ... ... ... 42 Larva of Anopheles Bossii ... ... ... ... ... ... 49 To Illustrate the Anatomy of the Eye of the Larva... ... ... 55 Plate II. — To Show the Characteristics of the Larvse of Different Genera ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 57 Plate III.— To Illustrate the Anatomy of the Pupa 65 Scales and Other Chitinous Appendages of Mosquitoes 77 Mouth Parts of an Indian Sand Fly ... ... ... ... ... 82 Diagram to Illustrate the Mouth Parts of a Female Mosquito ... 83 Semi-diagrammatic Representation of Serial Preparations of the Anterior Part of the Head and Proboscis ... ... ... 84 To Illustrate the Regional Anatomy of the Thorax 88 Semi-diagrammatic drawing of a Transverse Section of the Thorax of C. pipiens (L.) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 89 Transverse Section through the Posterior Part of the Abdomen of a Hibernatmg Female ... .. ... ... ... ... 91 Plate IV.— To Illustrate the Anatomy of the Digestive System of the Imago... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 95 Transverse Section of the Head of An. Culicifacies ... ... 97 To Illustrate Certain Points in the Anatomy of the Respiratory System, and of the Pneumatic Vesicles 104