Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1875-04-01
MOSQUITOES.

At this time Of the wear, when we
have respite from the buzzing and the
blood thirsty attacks of mosquitoes, we
may think calmly of our relations to
them, ard inquire whe ther they are
really cr,nies or friends. NotLirg was
ever created 81 vain, and If We studied
the book of nature enough TO under
stand the habits and Offices of our So
called pests, We should find that they
serve some useful purpose for man..
There is glorious field, fruitful alike
in pleasure and profit, to the patient in
vcstigator or observer, in trying to learn
in what way these troublesome creatures
are our friends and bcncfactors.
Experiment has proven that mos
quitoes serve no less a purpose in the
economy of nature than to prevent, on
a large scale, the emanatio:. of mias-
matte influences from standing water.
The little "wigglcrs" we see abundant
in summer. near the surface of stagnant
water, are the mosquitoes in the first
stage Of their development. When un-
disturbed. they can be seen with heads
down, and tails through which they
breathe by means of imperfect gills, or
respiratory tubes-at the waters sur
face. But they sometimes remain at
the bottom, feeding on decaying matter
there. In few DAYS they shed their
skin, cease 10 wiCrle, and float in a tor
pid state on the surface, or tumble over
and over across it when disturbed. In
this state they eat nothing, or live on
air in homeopathic doses, which they
breathe through two funnel-shaped
tubes in the top of the back. After
awhile the skin cracks open, and the
mosquito crawls from it and floats for
time, with its thin shell for boat, till
its short, limp wings have growniu both
length and thickness. Then it flies off
and buzzes about. ready to thrust its
sucker into our flesh. The develop
ment from the egg to the mosquito re-
ouircs about four weeks. The sexes
couple in the air, and the process is re-
peated again and again, probably half
dozen times in the course Of one sea-
son.
If water stands in the air so protec-
ted that the flying mosquito cannot de-
posit her bowl-shapcd mass of eggs in
it. il soon emits an offensive odor, and
spreads malaria and death on every
side; but water freely exposed will con-
tain the larvg of mosquitoes, which will
keep it sweet and harmless. This is an
experiment made long ago. by Linn1us,
though II seems not 20 be universally
known by naturaliSts of our dav. He
placed two barrels of stagnant water
side by side, neither of them contain
ing any "wigglc tails" or other living
animals. covered one of them over with
gauze, leaving the other uncovered. and
the results were stated is above. W hen
there is So much standing water on
marsh or swampy ground, in various
vessels about every home, and every
where in crowded cities, il is impossible
to compute the injury to health that
might result If it were not for these
diminutive sanitary agents.
Another very important use for mos
qultoes has recently been discovered
The wigglers have been used to excel
lent advantage by piscicil,urists for
feeding young fish; and il is said that
nothing has yet been found that can
contribute more to their rapid and heal
thy growth. Bv this use, our hateful
pests become, indirectly, savory and
delicate article Of diet
Prof. 4. NJ. Mayer has lately made
some very interesting experiments.
which have thrown light on the obscure
question as to the existence and locali-
~ of the mosquitoes organs of hearing
That insects have such organs is pre-
sumable from the fact that SO MANY of
them have the power of producing vol
untary sounds; but where the organs
are situated has never been definitely
known. BY watching under the mi
croscope, the fibrille of the mosquitoes ;
antennse or feelers, when he produced
certain sounds with his tuning fork.
the professor observed that different
sets of fibrill9 were caused to vibrate
by the motion Of his tuning fork. ac-
cording as the pitch and position Of the
fork were varied. He found that vi
brations occur in the greatest degree.
when the direction of sound is at right
angles to the direction of the fibrilla,
and when the fork is So placed as to
cause no vibration of fbrilla, line
extended in the direction in which the
latter points viii always come within
50 of the source of the sound. From
carefully prepared and manipulated ex.
periments Of this kind, Professor May