Page:Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Vol 69.djvu/383

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The following account has been drawn up at Professor Lankester's request with a view to facilitating the work of investigation of malaria in British India. It includes all the known species of Culicidae found in continental India. Singalese and Malayan species are not recorded, but probably several of them will be found in India.

The species previously described are here only referred to briefly, sufficient characters only being given to enable the identity of the Indian species being made; for this purpose tables have also been drawn up. Full descriptions, references, c., will be found in the " Monograph of the Culicidae of the World," published by the Trustees of the British Museum (Natural History).

The following genera are recorded from India: Anoplielex, Meigen ; Toxorhynchites, Theobald ; Mucidus, Theobald ; Stegomyiit, Theo- bald ; Armigeres, Theobald ; Culm, L. ; Tir.niorhynchus, Arribalzaga ; Panoplites, Theobald ; JEdeomym, Theobald ; and Uranotcenia, Arribal- zaga. In all forty-five species of Culicidae are known, and one Cvrethra (C. AsicUica), which is a non-piercing-mouthed genus, scarcely tenable in the family Culicidae.

This number will probably be doubled in a few years. At present we have no records of Sabethcs, Psorophvra, Megarhinus, Triclwprosopon, Janthinosoma, sEdes, and several other genera. Sabetltes, Trichoprosopoii, and others occur in woods and forests. At present we seem mainly to have received collections of household forms and species found in the immediate neighbourhood of man, from the Indian continent.

It is necessary that other genera than Anopheles, Stegomyia, and Culex should be experimented with in connection with malarial fever, yellow fever, Filariasis, &c., and that all species of the various genera should be dealt with. There is no reason, if only certain species of Anopheles act as carriers of malarial parasites, why some species of Culex, Stegomyia, Panoplites, &c., should not act in the same way, whilst others of them do not. For this reason, all the Indian Culicidae are here recorded for reference. Filariasis is carried not only by Culex, but we know also by certain Anopheles and Panoplites, and possibly further experiments will show the same for malaria and other diseases.

It will be noticed that five European species occur in India (fasciata, mimeticus, spathipalpis, cantans, and nigripes).