The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-08-16
Something Rbodt The
Festive Mosquito
From the Springfield Republican.

From the Spring field Republican.
Some benevoently inclined philosophers
have attempted to console the people with
some ingenious theories recently to the
effect that mosquito bites are healthtui,
but Dr. George Dimmock, of Grant street,
in this city, who, from his laboratory up
on State street, is making discoveries
which are earning for him almost an IN
ternationai reputation as an authority
in entomology, says that this consollng
phase of the subject is yet far from be-
ing established. The mosquito simply Is
here, and We must make the best or II.
And the cause of his appearance in such
numbers is to be found in natural phe-
nomena, namely the excessive rainfall
O.
The mosquito breeds in the water. When
the female is about to lay her eggs she
chooses a stagnant pool and shapes the
batch of eggs so that they float about on
top. After few days little fshlike
animal emerges from the bottom Of each
egg and becomes, in the language of the
schoolboy, a "wriggler." Everyone who
has looked into a rain tub on a hot day
has seen these little creatures wrigglnS
themselves through the water. THESE are
the larvae. If one approaches the tub
quietly he can see them resting at the
top, seemingly hanging mead downward
from the surface of the water Whlle III
this position they are breathing, for the
animal must have air as we'll as water
The mosquito remains in this state for
several days, VIXEN 1t become a pupa, and
a few days later the skin of the pupa IS
seen to split down the back and the
winged mosquito carefully works his
way out and statiors himself on his out
grown skin, using ii as raft while he
dries himself and gets strength for his
| flight. His slender body soon dries off
| and he spreads his wings and starts off
on his mission of mischief.
o
1t Is only in the last few years that we
have known just how the mosquito gets
| in his bill and sucks the blood. Mr.. DIM
| mock was at Leipsic, Germany, at the
time, working for his PHI. D.. degree, his
subject being the mouthpieces of in
| sects. Applying his powerful microscope
| TO the bill of the mosquito, he discovered
| il to be composed of six distinct prongs,
with sheaf around the whole. When
the insect begins to work he pulls this
sheaf back under him, which leaves the
| prongs free to operate. OF these prongs
| the first two are notched like saw, and
| are used to pull the rest of the tools in.
| Otherwise the mosquito, being such a
| lightweight and not being able to hang
on with his feet, If he attempted to thrust
| his bill in by main force would simply pry
| himself off into the air. But by inserting
| pulls his beak inside his victims flesh
| The next two prongs are Joined together
| to make a chisel, and serve to dig the hole
| out wider The next, the fifth prong, is
| tubular and carries the poison from the
poison duct back in the mosquitoes head
| down into the flesh. This makes the
| blood of his victim thinner, and thus
more easy for him to suck UP. The last
| prong is the largest of all ard is meant tc
| reap in the harvest, for which all the
other work is merely preliminary, for II
is tube through which the insect sucks
| in the blood of his sacrifice, OF course
all the prongs are exceedingly minute.
Just why the mosquito bites people 1:
not yet known. 1t is not to furnish hin
food, for ii Is an established fact that {
mosquito, after gorging himself with hu
man blood, dies within a few hours
whereas mosquitoes that have nevel
tasted blood have been known to liv,
very comfortably even through the en-
tire winter and into the next season. Tht
adult mosquito does not need food. Dur
ing his larva stage he has stored VI
enough nourishnent to last him all hi
life, and 1t is his normal state to go with
out food for the rest of his existence. Al
that he needs Is moist abr, adult mos
quitoes being known to pass the winte
in damp cellars, living on nothing bu
the moisture. The fact that II is esti
mated that Only one out of 10000 eve
tastes human blood also proves that 1t 1
not necessary. Why he persists in tortur
ing mankind, therefore, mas not yet beel
found out and scientists can only swea
softly with the rest OF mankind and max
the general statement that the mosquit
is born with a vt!ated appetite for humal
gore-an appetite that causes the dealt
of the indulger, and is thus precisely par
| allel TO the drunkArQS thirst for drink
. | o
Theories have been advanced to shoy
that the bite of the mosquito Is beneficial
One Of the most interesting of these ha
been advanced within the last fey
months, and is to the effect that the in
! sect, in biting a person, leaves inside g