PLATE XII. 1, Mitcidns scataphagoides, Giles ; 2, M. alternans (Westvvood) ; 8, 71/. iniu-ldnx, Karsch ; 4, Psorophora Hohnbergii, Arribal. ; 5, Ps. ciliata (Fabr.). Face p.
340.
GENUS MUCIDUS 347 " Abdomen with dense scales, which stand out and give it a ragged appearance.
" Wings covered with broad pyriform scales, many of which are particoloured. Palpi of the ? half as long as the proboscis ; antennae fourteen jointed, including the basal joint ; palpi of the ^ five-jointed, a little longer than the proboscis. Wings with the venation much as in Culex, but the posterior cross-vein is nearer the apex of the wing than the mid cross-vein.
"Legs banded, densely scaled with projecting scales ; fore and mid ungues of the ^ unequal, the larger with two, the smaller with one tooth ; hind ungues equal, small toothed ; in the 2 all the ungues are small, equal, thick, and with a short thick tooth." Five species are at present known, which he tabulates as below : — A. Proboscis with ochreous and yellow scales — no white apical band.
a. Wing fringe with 8 pale yellow spots j3. Stem of second posterior cell shorter than the cell 1 alternans. Westw.
00. Stem of the second posterior cell longer than the cell 2 scataphagoides. n.sp.
a. Wing fringe with 7 pale spots 3 niucidus. Karsch. aa. Whig fringe with 5 pale spots A Africanus. n.sp. AA. Proboscis white banded at apex 5 laniger. Wied. 1. MUCIDUS ALTERNANS (Westwood).
Plate xii, fig. 2, Wing of $ .
= C. alternans, Westwood. = C. commovens, Walker. = G. Idspidosus, Skuse.
(Ann. See. Ent. Fr. iv, p. 681, and Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond. iii, p. 384 ; Ins. Saund, Dipt. p. 432, Walker (= C. commovens) ; Trans. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, p. 1726 [1891], Skuse = C. hispidosus.) Wings brindled yellowish and brown, with a not very sharply defined lighter band across the wing at the level of the forksfcems, extending from the costa to V ; their internal fringe with eight each, of alternate black and pale yellow lengths of almost equal size. Proboscis deep ochre and pale yellow scaled. Stem of hinder fork shorter than its cell.
Of a general mouldy appearance. Head brown, with median and lateral patches, and the orbits white scaled. Palpi, J , nearly half as long as proboscis, brindled so as to be dark at the base and nearly entirely white-scaled at their tips, those of ^ but little longer than the proboscis, with a tuft of long, silky hairs at the extremity, and a very strong tuft from the side of the third joint, the two basal joints each as long as
348 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER XIII the last three taken together, and the mixed dai'k and light scales so disposed as to leave the last joint almost black ; the next nearly white, and the two long joints dark at their distal and pale on their basal portions. Thorax yellowish-brown, with white spots as follows : three in front near the head, three in the middle, u-regular patches at the sides, and one in front of the scutellum. Abdomen blackish, covered with ochreous, yellow and white, parti-coloured scales, the white forming more or less basal bands, and a spot on the middle of the segments. Legs densely clothed with ochreous, parti-coloured and white scales, banded with white. Length.— 1-6 mm.
Habitat. — Bupengary, S. Queensland; Hexham Swamp, near Newcastle and Eichmond, N.S.W. ; Mt. Kembla, Illawarra, N.S.W. ; Natal. December and January in Australia.
2. MUCIDUS SCATAPHAGOIDES, sjj. n. (First Edition, p. 182). Plate xii, fig. la. Complete figure of insect, seven times natural size ; 2a, Venation of wing at standard amplification of 10 diams. Wings very broad ; not definitely spotted, but with alternating patches of pale and parti-coloured scales on all the veins ; its internal fringe pale yellow with eight black interruptions, which are, however, narrower than the intervening pale portions, especially towards the tip. Legs, including tarsi, elaborately banded with alternate brown and yellowish-white rings. Thorax covered with woolly white tomeotum, with ill-defined darker patches on the sides at front. Abdomen brindled like the rest of the body, rather paler along the middle line but unhanded. Proboscis brindled so as to be darker at the tip. Stem of hinder fork longer than its cell.
? . — Head and eyes ochreous, the nape covered with long, forwarddirected, pale ochreous scales, almost wliite in the middle line, and lemon-coloured round the eyes and on a frontal tuft, somewhat like those of Anopheletes ; antennae white on basal joint; brownish-yellow, darker at the roots of the verticils elsewhere ; palpi more than half the length of the proboscis, ochre and white brmdled, nearly pure white at the tips. The venation of the wing is peculiar, " 2 " being absent, as III. originates from II. external to the transverse veins, and hence " 3 " connects II. and IV. instead of III. and IV. as usual. Halteres ochreousbrown throughout. Length. — 8 to 10 mm.
Habitat. — This species is probably widely distributed in India, as the specimens mentioned in the First Edition were from Myingan, Burmah, and during the past year I received a number of specimens from Major Close, I. M.S., who writes : — " They only appeared for about a week in September, and occurred in the Police Hospital at Moradabad, N.W.P., and bit the patients very viciously." Major Close confined a ? that had
GENUS MUCIDUS 349 recently bitten in a test tube, placed on the slant, with some water in the bottom. She deposited a number of eggs separately, but when transferredtowatertheydidnothatchout.
3. MUCIDUS MUCIDUS (Karsch).
Culcx muciclus, Karsch (Ent. Nacbr. p. 25, 1887). Plate xii, fig. o, Wing of ? .
Wing not definitely spotted, but brindled with mainly brown, some ochreous and a few parti-coloured scales with a pale patch at the tip and a couple on V. and YI. each. The internal fringe mainly dark, with seven pale interruptions much narrower than the intervening dark portions. Legs elaborately ornamented with alternating dark and light portions, the latter basal on the tarsi, but these are nowhere very dark. Thorax yellow-brown with woolly white tomentum. Abdomen brindled with brown and white scales, the latter preponderating along the middle and behind. Proboscis rather dark at the tip.
$ . — Head yellowish-brown, with long straggling white scales forming a median line and a few dotted over the whole surface, numerous black and brown upright forked scales, a narrow white border round the eyes, and numerous golden bristles projecting forwards ; antennae yellowishbrown, the basal joint with a tuft of white scales and a few brown scales on the second joint ; palpi densely clothed with brown and white scales, the white greatly predominating, especially towards the tip, a few particoloured ones also present and a few large black bristles ; proboscis covered with golden-yellow squamae, and with numerous brown ones towards the base; wings with "2" nearly even with "3 " and "4," external to them. Length. — 8 to 8"5 mm.
Habitat. — Whydah, W. Africa ; and Delagoa Bay.
4. MUCIDUS AFRICANUS, Theobald (Monog. I, p. 274). Wings unspotted and less brindled than in the other members of the geuus, the majority of the scales being of a single sort (parti- coloured) with a few dark ones on the costa, I. and V. Internal fringe mainly black, with live irregularly disposed pale patches, two near tip, two respectively before and behind ant. br. of v. and a fifth internal to VI. Thorax fuscous grounded with a pair of paler, sub-median ground stripes and white woolly tomentum. Abdomen dark browm, with median and lateral patches of long shaggy white scales on the first few segments, the apical segments being mostly white-scaled ; legs with the femora mostly dark-scaled, the tibiae black on the basal half or more, white on the apical part ; metatarsi and tarsi ochreous, scales smaller,
350 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER XIII making them look nude on the fore and mid legs. Proboscis darker at apex.
$ . — Head brown, with shaggy white twisted scales, some spatulate, especially forming a white median line ; upright forked scales numerous, jet black, much wider apically than in other species of this genus ; a narrow pale border round the eyes and golden-brown bristles projecting forwards between them ; antennae yellowish-brown, with narrow deep brown bands at the verticils, basal joint with a dense tuft of white scales on the inside ; palpi densely clothed with scattered white and jet-black scales ; eyes black. Wings with 2, ||, to 3 and 4 weU external to them. Tarsal claws equal, thick, serrated. Length.— 7 to 7"5 mm. Habitat. — Asaba, W. Africa, m August.
5. MUCIDUS LANIGER (Wied).
C. Laniger, Wied. ("D. E."p. 9).
Wings limpid, the veins with alternate fuscous and white scales ; their inner margin alternately banded fuscous and white ; tarsal joints banded, and some joints wholly white ; tomentum woolly ; thorax with a median white line ; abdomen white, with a fuscous apical band on each segment.
Although no specimens referable to the above have come to hand, there can be little doubt that the species to which it refers belongs to the genus Mucidus. The following is the original description. Entirely covered with woolly hairs, variegated with white and fuscous. Length 4 lines (German). $ • — Proboscis yellow, with a white band at the apex ; palpi two-thirds the length of the proboscis, the middle joint longer than the apical, the third shortest ; all covered with a white and intermixed fuscous lanugo ; the bases of the antennae yellow, the flagella whitish ; head covered with fuscous lanugo, with a white middle line ; thorax covered with fuscous lanugo, with a median stripe, and two continuous stripes on the pleurae, white ; abdomen white, with a fuscous' band on the apex of each segment. Wmgs limpid, the veins with fuscous and white scales, the internal margin ciliated alternately fuscous and white ; halteres whitish. The ground colour of the legs is yellow but is, like the trunk, covered with white and fuscous lanugo ; there is no white on the anterior tarsi, but in the hinder their apices are white ; the tibiae of the front legs are white alike at their bases and apices, while those of the middle and hinder, are banded white ; the femora of the front legs have three, and of the hinder and middle four white bands.
Genus IX. PANOPLITES, Theobald (Monog. I, p. 276). This genus is one of the best defined and most easily distinguished of the new genera. Once seen, there is no mistaking the wing with its large regularly placed bracket-shaped scales ; and the circumstance that in all the species these are disposed in
GENUS PANOPLITES 351 irregularly-arranged groups of dark and pale scales gives a curiously rough, brindled appearance to the wing. The scales themselves are so large that their peculiar outhne can easily be made out with an ordinary hand lens. The internal fringe is usually very long, and the inner rank of short scales are disposed in irregular patches of light and dark colour, just as are those of the veins, though they may be almost all white, as in P. Australiensis, or all black, as in P. Africans. In very many respects the genus closely resembles Mucidus. Not a single <? of any species appears to have reached the museum, but in every one the palpi of the 5 are much larger than in Gulex, being about one-third the length of the proboscis inmost, and although the scales differ from those of Mncidus in shape, their general arrangement on the veins in irregular groups of contrasting colours is very similar in both genera. The dark scales, too, have the same opaque thickened appearance, and the brindling of the whole body by intermixed scales of two or more shades of the same colour, such as white to pale yellow, ferruginous and yellowish-brown of various depths, is exactly similar, and so also is the ornamentation of the body and appendages, produced by the varying preponderance of scales of one or the other shade on various parts. They might almost indeed be said to be small Mucidi with asymmetrical wing scales, and though the wing scales present a close resemblance to those of ^domyia, the two genera are easily distinguished, even in the females, by the much greater length of the palpi, which are about one-third the length in Panoj^heles and very short in all the ^des groiq^, and for these reasons I think their natural position is between Mucidus and Gulex.
Of the seven species at present known, only two, P. dives (Schiner), and P. titillans (Walker), were previously known, but all belong to the warmer parts of the world. The bite is said to be very irritating, and Dr. Lutz has found that the saliva is distinctly acid. Mr. Theobald defines the genus as below : — Palpi short in the $ , long ui the $ , in the latter with hair tufts, four- jointed in the $ and (J ; in the J the first joint is small, the third long, the fourth small and nipple-like. Head clothed with narrow curved and long upright forked scales ; thorax with thm hah-like curved scales and numerous bristles ; scutellum with similar squamae ; abdomen with flat scales with very convex apices. The abdomen of the ? is usually blunt, and the penultimate segment may have a row of short thick spines. Wings densely scaled along the veins ivith broad asymmetrical fiat scales on each side of the veins only, no median scales, and also m some cases with long lateral clavate scales ; fork of the second posterior cell
852 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER XIII usually nearer the base of the wing than that of the first sub-marginal cell. Legs usually more or less mottled and banded with white ; imgues of the 5 eqvTal and simple, of the <^ unequal, the larger one toothed, the smaller, simple (in P. titillans, Walker). Table of Species of PANOPLITES. A. Thorax unspotted, and the femora not prominently banded.
Thorax uniformly dark brown, palpi and proboscis dark, the latter with a trace of banding 1. titillmis, Walker. Thorax reddish-brown, with two median pale lines, small pale golden scales in the middle and round the front, abdomen with yellow apical bands 2. pseudotitillans, Theob. Thorax chestnut-brown in the middle, paler at the sides, legs mottled and banded 3. unif or mis, Theoh. Thorax dark brown, the front twothirds of the mesonotum goldenbrown scaled, tarsi banded white 4. Amazonensis, Theob. Thorax golden-brown, abdomen unhanded, tarsi broadly basally light banded, proboscis not very obviously banded but dark at tip 5. Australiensis, Theob. AA. Thorax spotted, and the femora elaborately banded or spotted.
Legs all banded and mottled ; yellowish-brown ; wings with the posterior border with broadborder scales 6. annuUfera, Walker. Blackish-brown ; wings with the border scales narrow 7. dives, ^chiner. AAA. Thorax ornamented with broad lines of golden-brown and silvery scales and two pale indistinct spots ... 8. Afncanus, Theob. 1. PANOPLITES TITILLANS, Walker. = T(2niorhynchns taniorlajnchus, Arribalzaga, = Culex damnosus, Say. (Brit. Mus. List. p. 3 [= Culex titillans'], Walker ; Jour. Acad. Phil, iii, 11. 3 [1882] [= Ctdex damnosus'], Say; Dipt. Argentina, p. 48 [Arribalzaga] [= T. tceniorhynchics].)
Plate xiii, fig. 4a, Venation of 2 wing ; 4b, Leptotaxis of wmg vein : 4c, outline figures of ^ and ? palpi (after Monog.). Wing brindled with dark brown and yellowish scales, the latter somewhat preponderating, except along the costa; the short
GENUS PANOPLITES 353 inner rank scales of the fringe, some black and some white. Tarsi basally white banded. Thorax uniformly dark brown. Abdomen deep purple-black, the segments more or less distinctly apically banded or fringed with yellowish scales. Proboscis with a broad ferruginous band, the ant. limit of which is fairly distinct but which fades off behind gradually. These markings are barely perceptible in the 3- , which is almost uniformly greyish-brown. Head brown with grey curved and black erect forked scales, paler in the (J ; palpi of $ fully one-third the length of the proboscis, brmdied yellowish and black, whitish at the tip ; those of ^ brindled yellowishwhite to black ; fourth joint with a dense tuft of hairs, basal half of end joint white. First hind tarsal joint with a minute band at the juncture of the middle and lower thirds, the other joints all distinctly basally white banded, while in the naid legs, the upper four, and in the hind the upper three tarsal joints are banded. Length. — 5 mm. (?, 55 ? . Habitat Eio de Janeiro, New Amsterdam, British Guiana. 2. PANOPLITES PSEUDOTITILLANS, Theob.
(Monog. II, p. 178).
Plate xiii, fig. 7, Fork of IV., to show distribution of dark and light scales.
Closely resembles the above, but the wing is paler, its veins having a rather larger proportion of pale scales than are found in that species, and often four to six white ones lie along one side of a vein, while those on its other are black. There are narrow basal bands on all the tarsal joints of the hind and mid, but only on the upper three of the fore-legs, and the extra band on the hind first tarsal is absent, or at most ill-defined. The proboscis with a very broad and ill- defined ferruginous band in the middle. It may be distinguished from the preceding by the thorax being ornamented by two paler median lines, but the chief difference, however, which is certainly specific, is in the scale ornamentation of the wings. In P. titUlans there are numerous lateral scales on the veins of an elongated form, similar to those of a Tceniorhynchus, whilst in this species the scales are all typical Panoplitcs scales. Length. — 6 mm.
Habitat. — Lower Amazons, Time of capture. — March. 3. PANOPLITES UNIFORMIS, Theob. (Monog. II, p. 180). Plate xiii, fig. 3a, Venation of whig in $ ; 3b, of ^ ; 3c, Leptotaxis of wing-vem; 3d, Head and appendages of ^ .
Wings brindled but unspotted. 3 tarsal joints brown, with ferruginous band, swhich are scarcely perceptible in the $ . on the articulations. Thorax clothed with golden scales on a dark 23