West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1879-09-13
The Mosquito An un.cien,lnc STUDY.

Now comes the mosquito. Not that the
mosquito confines his visits TO the late sum
mer and autumn by any means, for. like
the poor, we have him always with us. or
nearly always; but it is about this time
that he begins to take himself seriously. to
insist upon himself, to labor and TO prey.
but not to wait by any means.
There are some curious and interestin ING
points about the mosquito, and now that we
must give him some measure of attention
whether we wish to do so yr not. il is wei 10
get some entertainment cut of him. He
getsa good deal out Of us.
There are gOod many kinds of him for
one thlng-genera or species, as the reader
may please--Some of them active by day
others by night, and some-ss anybody may
discover for himself, though the scientific
books neglect TO mention the fact-ready
like the lower class of restaurants. for
meals at all hours of the day or night" ,
The most curious thing about MOSQUITO
is that he is found in some places, and not
In others where the conditions are appar-
emily precisely the same. There are places
where mosquitoes swarm, while I'm others
near at hand and similarly situated not a
mosquito ever presents bill. The reason
for this nobody knows.
Another thing about the MOSQUITO that
nobody knows is how he buzzes. That is
his secret and as yet he has not revealed il
to anybody. Entomologists have question
ed him on this point to no purpose. They
have dissected him, separated each of his
muscles from its follows; they have stud
led him sitting still, flying and walking.
they have observed him i'm the act of blood.
letting they have counted the vibrations of
his wings, and learned that Ills stroke is fif-
ty to the second; but they have never dis
covered how or why he buzzcs. They have
many pretty theories on the subject, but
nave agreed among themselves upon no set
tied doctrine.
The mosquito is graceful fellow i'm all
he does, and if he would sleep OF nights
would not be an unpleasant companion, but
Tor ms bite. We should say her bite for it
Is only the female that bites, fact drom
winch every reader will argue that mosuui-
toes must be pOlygamists, with many thou
sands OF wives apiece, for one very rarely
mas the mosquics that does not bite. He
Is rarer than the man who does not smoke
or the woman whose shoes are avowcdly
too small by half a size.
Why does the mosquito bite? That is
another secret. 1t is pretty certain that
she has no occasion TO do So Vegetable
Juices and sweets are her natural food. and
IL is now doubted whether or not she really
needs any food at all To test this cues
ton Tennessee entomologist believing that
arrangements for scaling the state debt
were IN satisfactory state of advancement
devoted his spare time few years ago 10
the making OF experiments. He imprison-
ca several mosquitoes under bell glasses and
kept them there without food during the
Whole term OF their natural lives. and he
lestliles that they remained healthy, active
ana vigorous, without pcrceptibly losing
Hcsh, until the advent of cold weather mn
an END to them and the experiment mt once.
Their blood-thirst, therefore, seems to be
purely malicious aAd"nOt at all A part of
their struggle for existence.
An ingenious spologist for the MOSQUITO
attempted few years ago to set up a de
tense Tor her, which, if 1t had been true.
would not only have excused her. but
would have justified her also, i'm the use of
her lancets. lie declared that Mrs. Mos
quito IS female practitioner that she
liVes N malarous regions and punctures
skins there, partly to drive men away from
presidential spots and partly TO counteract
the poison OF the atmOspcre by the admin
lstratlon OF an antidOte: i'm a word this
apologlst held that Mrs. Mosquito bites not
Tor the purpose of sucking blood but to adj
minister minute doses of quinine by sub
cutaneous injection. If this fact could be
proved, we should have i'm the MOSQUITO the
most electlc OF physlcians-One VINO uses
the old school lancet, but gives homeopathic
doses.
How the mosquito bites is much better
known than why she bites She carries six
Httle lancets inside her proboscis, and with
THESE she puncturcs the skin, making hole
80 small that tho blood cannot flow through
II except under pressure, and through this
mole she draws whL,,Jhe wants by a sort of
special suction-pump stomach which is dis
unct from her stomach proper The inflam-
nation and irritation which follow the bite
are due not so much to the puncturing of
the skin as 30 the acrid saliva which flows
into the wound. This irritation is some
Tunes 50 great as TO produce fever a fact
from which it appears that. if the mosouito
is really physician she adhcres To the
homeopathic doctrine that like cures like. a
doctrine which has never been followed ont
TO its logical end IN cases where men. bav-
ing broken their heads by falling down
night OIL stairs, need TO be thrown down "A
night by way Of repairing the injury. Per
maps TINS Is a misinterpretation Of the doc
trine, and at any rate has nothing TO do
WIN mosquitoes, whose heads cannot be
broken IN any such way
The usual remedy Tor mosquitoes is To-
slap ones self violently. 1t does not hurt
The mosquito but il braces the sufferer up
ana teaches hlm to endure pain