Abstract
Anopheles gambiae var. melas was first described by Theobald (1903), and at the same time Dutton (1903) recorded the breeding of A. gambiae in seawater. These two observations were not correlated, but most later workers have believed, with Evans (1931), that the melanic pigmentation of the variety was a direct and temporary response to brackish environmental conditions. They have therefore made no effort to distinguish between the two forms.