Report on the collections of mosquitoes (Culicidae) received at the British Museum, natural history, from various parts of the world in connection with the investigation into the causes of malaria, conducted by the Colonial Office and the Royal Society / by Fred. V. Theobald.

  • Theobald, Fred V.
Date:
1900
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report on the collections of mosquitoes (Culicidae) received at the British Museum, natural history, from various parts of the world in connection with the investigation into the causes of malaria, conducted by the Colonial Office and the Royal Society / by Fred. V. Theobald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    both of which localities A. Sinensis, Wied., has been received, but I believe it occurs in all the intervening East Indian Islands. This species is synonymous with Van der Wulp’s A. barbi.rostris from East Java and Walker’s A. ranus from the Celebes. A long series sent by Mr. Wray from the Straits Settle- ments show great variation both in colour and size ; whereas all the other Anopheles appear very constant in colour and markings. At present I am engaged with the genus Culex, some ninety odd species of which have already been identified or described as new species. The work of identification is extremely difficult owing to the very meagre descriptions of most of the older species. In many cases one description will apply to two or three distinct species, so that the probability is that several described as new species have been previously named, but cannot be identified unless from the original types, many of which have decayed away. Again a large number of descriptions have been compiled from worn specimens and are thus valueless; in this way, I believe, Walker described Culex taeniatus under at least three different names ( ( '. zonatipes, C. formosus, and C. exagitans). In three authors alone are the descriptions sufficiently full and clear to be of any value, namely Skuse’s of the Australasian species, Arribalzaga’s of the Argentine, aud Ficalbi’s of the Italian and European, and a few isolated species such as those described by Coquillet, Williston, and others in various journals. So far no purely European species except those that occur in Malta and Gibraltar, etc., have been examined by me, as the majority of the collections have come from tropical and sub- tropical countries. Two species of Culex seem to have a very wide distribution, namely, C. taeniatus (Meig) and ( . fatigans Wied. The former I make synonymous with the following, C. formosus, < . exagitans, and C. zonatipes of Walker, C. Itoss/i of Giles, and < . elegans, Ficalbi, whilst C. mosquito of Robineau Desvoidy is undoubtedly a distinct variety of <taeniatus, specimens of typical < . mosquito merging into those of C. taeniatus. This species has been sent