The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-01-08
THE MOSQUITO.
THE EARLY HISTORY OF MANS
FLEET-WINGED ToaMENTOR.
Its First Appearance Made In the Water
How 1t Sheds Its Primitive
Shell and Starts on Its Blood
Sucking Career.
Baltimore Herald.]

Baltimore Herald.l
As matter of fact, the mosquito is a
very wonderful creature, and the history Of
its brief life reads like fairy tale. 1t has
the adroitness of fox, the malice of an old
maid, the courage Of bulldog the appetite
of buzzard-is absolutely tireless on the
wing-has high opinion of its musical
talents, scent, its prey like q bloodhound,
fights with the desperation of Turk is as
far-sighted as Yankee skipper, has the
digestion of an ostrich, and has more wives
than Solomon and more children than
Brigham Young.
It belongs to the gnat family, and is
known in certain learned circles as the
@culex pipieus"-two Latin words ex.
pressing a great deal of meaning
Strictly speaking, it does not begin life
as musquito, but as larva. 1t is born
in the water, and during its infancy is about
as ambiguous an objsct as dude
in a bathing suit, and is as little like its
after self as the weather prophesied from
the signal office. The most favorite breed
ing place for the parent mosquitoes is some
secluded pool in the marsh, or in some
honest farmers rain barrel The breeding
in these ATTITUDES Is carried on from early in
May until winter actually sets in, and it
is not unusual to find the larva in the
water as late as the middle of October. Its
body looks like half dozen miniature kegs
Joined end to end and tapering to the tail,
and from the sides sprout tiny bristles.
hollow pipe extends ont from the tail, and
there is also another smaller tube,
The supply of vital organs is singularly
kcanty. Whenever the musquito that-is-to-
be desires u embclish Its interior with Wet
uais, it swishes the water with its bristles
or tufts, thus creating gentle current that
carries al ng with it microscopic ine cts
and PARTICLES CT vegetable and earthly mat
ter. Then the SGgacioui creature turns ever,
head downward and proceeds to feed itself
through its tail 1t hreaths in the Same
manner through its long pipe attached to
the tail. which it lifts above the surface Of
The water whenever it wants air In this
some what unsatisfactory state Of existence,
,he larva spen Is tie FIRST three weeks of its
lie, changing Its SIN Tires times during
lat pario.
Finally throwing off its covering for the
| fourth tiHle, 1t ceases to be larva and be-
comas pupa. It haS now jumped, hyper
| bplicaiiy spaat king, IF II the frying pan into
tte iite, AMI is even worse of than it was
, before. lis b0iy j. nov stretched, ROUNDED
| and liant, saa when it IS in repose- buried
| il: thought cont m dating the gided fu-
| ttre--it Ing, lean tail is bet around until
| the end OF it rests again,t the underneath
| part Of t5e head SO that it las somewhat
the appearance OF an animated loop. 1t
propel, it-e.f along through the water
| by alternately bending and straight
| ening its body. The pupa is liter
| ally an animal without a stomach Il
| has no digestive organs, and, therefore, can
not eat. 1t no doubt, however, does a ire
lnendous amount of thinking, as it is nearly
| always in motion, sculling around at lively
| rate and hobnobbing with the other pupa in
| the vicinity. 1t breathes through its ears,
which are long, like those of mule, and
| shaped like milk-trumpet at the outer
| ends. 1t has lost the two tubes that previ-
| ously formed doubtful adornment to its
| tail, which latter is now shaped somewhat
| like kite After remaining in this stata
for varying periods it gets ready to emerge.
When about to perform this highly cred
| itab bic tableau, it lies on the surface of the
| water, Strengthening the hind part of the
| body, and extending itself along the surface
| above which iti windpipe is raised. There
| is sudden cracking of the skin. and itsplts
between the ears This is the crisis of its
| existence. If it were to suffer its head and
that portion of its body which is above the
| surface to fall back into the water it would
be drowned. No one appreciates this dis
| agreeable contingency more wildly than
the musquito itself. 1t raises itself with
the greatest caution, like an acrobat bal
ancing binlself on his head, while he
| sc L i ;G
has got it, head and thorax entirely free by
a series of gentle wiggl4s and c2ntractions,
it pulls out its body and wings. Then, with
marvellous dextsrity, it sits on its tail and
expands its wings, and skins along to the
friendly shore or tn the leaf OF water-lily.
the wind filing tie fairy sails and the
trusty tail serving tie dual capacity Of
a cushion and rudder. Or, il the Lilipu-
tian m riner is hungry or in hurry, he
does not wait to reach dry spot, but boldly
plants his feet on the surface of the water,
spreads his wings and flies away.
| Its after career is a matter of too much
unpleasant notoristy to be .ong dwelt upon
Gentlemen OF wisdom who have carefully
observed it through microscope describe
it as having q long, thin trunk and sucker
provided with six bristles. Its wings are
crossed in repose The latter are covered
with scales shaped like obIong plates and
finely straited longitudinally, The eyes arr
large and expressive, and there are moi
; nearly SO many Of them as some peopl'
imagine. The case or sting is cylindrical
and is covered with scales and termi
mates in small, MISUNDERSTANDING knob
) 1t is split from end to end 50 that it will
+ fly open in the twinkling of all eye, and il
Z contains blood curiiing case OF murderous
3 Instruments Tho sting inself is composed
: of six parts AMI the poison is as clear a
q water, and sometimes exudes from tn
4 trunk.
! The lsncets used by the musqaito in Dor
ing into the skin of his victim are three il
I number, and they would bring tears of 10,
into the eyes of a surgeon, One of them
long and curved like Damascus blade ans
is jagged at the end like saw; anothe
{ has spear-head, and the third ends in
: very sharp point, sharper than that of tn
most delicate cambria needle. Thu
equipped, it is no wonder that the musquit
is source of terror to the neighborhoo1 4
< which he lives.
s Congress is not such an expensive IN
stitution, directly,ss some people imagine
!. Three millions and little more yea
are sufficient to pay its bills.
During last year the government lo
, nearly $1,000 on deficient yardage
d the Irvine purchased for use of he posi-
l afAna damn ~ ,n,,f