36 BRITISH BLOOD-SUCKING FLIES
markedly smaller than those above and below it, and the lower branch of the
cubital fork is entirely dark.
C. salmarius (as now re-defined) has not hitherto been recorded as British ;
it is, however, represented in the British Museum by three specimens :
CROMARTY: Dingwall, vii. 1909, I C?, I '^{J. J- F. X. King)-, and HERTS.:
Harpenden, 7 vi. 1934, i ? taken in light trap {C. B. Williams). It seems likely
that it will be found to occur at various points along our coasts ; it is recognised
on the continent as associated with brackish water. The Harpenden specimen
had presumably strayed from the coast.
Culicoides circumscriptus Kieffer
(Fig. 7)
The points differentiating this species from C. salinarius are small, but
definite. They are to be found in the wing-markings ; \\\ C. circumscriptus
there is a small dark spot adjoining the cross-vein, forming a small " buh'seye
" centre to a large pale spot ; the pale spot near the outer end of the median
PIQ^ —Culicoides circumscriptus Kieff. Wing and thorax of ?
fork is fairly large and more or less confluent with the spots above and below
it ; the tips of the branches of the median fork are more extensively pale, and
thé lower branch of the cubital fork lies wholly within a narrow pale streak.
The markings of the thorax are rather variable ; some specimens show, in
addition to the small dark spots, six larger or smaller rounded dark spots in
NEMATOCERA—CERATOPOGONIDAE 37
a curved row across the middle ; on such specimens Kieffer bestowed the
varietal nsLme pictidorsum.
C. circumscriptus, like C. salinarius and C. riethi, is essentially a coastal
insect; in Britain it has been found at the following seaside localities : NORFOLK,
Waxham ; SUFFOLK, Orford ; ESSEX, Frinton ; CARNARVON, Llandwrog. In
addition a female specimen (doubtless a straggler) was taken on a window in
the Natural History Museum, South Kensington.
Culicoides odibilis Austen
(Fig. 8)
The ornamentation of this insect is highly distinctive, the thorax and wing
both exhibiting a pattern which is unlike that of any other British species. The
ground colour of the wing is dark, with a still darker spot covering the whole
of the second radial cell, on each side of which is a pale spot ; four more
roundish pale spots are situated on the distal margin of the wing between the
veins, these spots usually quite small, at least in the female ; a small oval pale
spot IS situated in the base of the median fork and another near the base of the
upper branch of this fork. The whole wing is hairy. The markings of the
thorax include a median stripe which extends from the front margin and is
usually fairiy broad and connected with other irregular dark marks.
FIG. S.—Culicoides odibilis Austen. Wing of Ç.
c. odibths does not appear to be a common species anywhere in Britain
but It IS widely distributed, having been found in the counties of HERTS '
Harpenden, Letchworth ; CAMBS. : Cambridge ; CHESHIRE : Broadheath "
CUMBERLAND : Skirwith ; and CROMARTY : Dingwall.
Dates of capture range from May 22nd to August 28th.
There are no definite records of C. odtbtlis biting in this country, and in
any case It is probably nowhere sufficiently abundant to cause serious trouble
the larvae have been found living in association with iT. pulicaris in mud
at the margin of a cattle pond.
Culicoides pictipennis Staeger
(Fig. 9)
the characterised by having
thorax uniformly brown or greyish, without definite markings, and the