The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-19

llRnL. Inc pupd Suell 10 III the form or
boat, the opening appearing on the surface
of the she'll which is farthest from the
water. The insect rises slowly and de-
nberately until at length balances itself on
it's tail A small gust of wind now or a
slight eddy and the she'll boat would tin
over. when the mosquitoes active existence
would end before it begun.
If the gust of wind or eddy fail to appear
and it is certain that they often do fail TO
appear-the insect slowly extricates It's
front pair of legs, and places them on the
surface of the water, still clinging to its
she'll boat. Then it as slowly and dehber-
ately spreads Its wings. They at first strike
the water, but are raised above it again
and the sun-for these affairs invariably
take place sunny daYs-aud air dry them.
The hind legs are then slowly drawn from
tine shell until their ends rest on the edge of
the boat, the body is stretched out, the
wings expanded. A moment afterward the
wings flap. the shell is tipped over, the head
is turned shoreward, and the mosquito is
ready for business.
THE MOSQUITOES ''sTING."
Entomologists are by no means agreed as
to the number of pieces in the proboscis. or
sting" of the common m osquito. This is
the instrument which puncturss the flesh,
and serves as a sort of introduction of the
mesquite to the human family. me au-
thorities declare that it has four pieces,
others aver that it has six. while still others
assert that it has five. The average lay
man would be unwilling to place the num-
Der below twenty The proboscis is tubular
in form. The lances attached to it, what
ever their number may be, are sharper than
snv instrument known to the surgeon, 1t
is not the size or depth OF the wound in
fiicted which makes the mo'quitO'S sting"
so painful, but rather the secretion which
is injected under the skin by the proboscis.
This always produces itching
There is no unanimity among scientists
regarding the question of poison in the mos
Quito's sitting" No poison gland has yet
been found in the head of any of these in
sects which have been examined. The
wounds have been known TO swell and be-
come infamed in many cases. In some deli
cate skins. indeed, ulcers are said to have
been produced; but on this latter
point many entomologists throw
doubts: 1t is certain, as mil
lions of victims will very feelinply
testify, that the wounds are often painful
and always decidedly unpleasant. The
saliva injected is believed to be slightly
acrid. This quality, aggravated with the
action of the barbed joint on one blade of
the sucker" causes irritation, which is
sought to be allayed by scratching, but
which, in reality, makes the wound the
more infiamed and painful.
THE MOSQUITOES ''sONG."
Unhappily, the mosquitoes sting" is not
so irritating to the victims flesh as its
"song" is to his nerves. Concerning the
manner in which this sound is produced the
naturalist is almost as much in the dark as
the most ignorant and thOughtless nom
scientist. The ordinary person, it is true. if
questioned on the subject, would uuhesitat-
ingly answer off-hand that it is made by
the respiratory organs, as the vocal
music Of man and many OF the lower
animals is made. The naturalist, however,
would not make this mistake. For what
ever produces this sound, it appears toler-
ably certain that it has no necessary con-
neotion with the breathing apparatus.
Kirby, a well-known British entomologist,
attributed it to the friction made by the
base of the wings against the chest in flying.
Other naturalists, equally skilled and OBJ
servant, ascrlbe it to the rapid motions of
the wingless, the motions of the poisers of
the vibrations of the thorax caused by the
contractions of the muscles of the wings.
The wings, indeed, move rapidly enough to
produce buzz of fairly robust and pro-
nounced character. One authority esti-
mates that they vibrate fifty times every
second while flying. Let 100 or 200 of these
songsters be flying at one time within a
dozen feet of a persons head-and twice or
thrice as many as that are often flying within
space smaller than that in a woods, beside
a brook or in garden-and it0wonld be
wonderful if the air were not vocal with
sound