The Monitor-register., 1897-09-24
The Female Mosquito.

Two entomologists-Dr. George Dim
| mock, of Massachusetts,, and professor
j. B. Smith, of New ~Jersey-have been
| telling what they know about the mos-
quito. What the rest of US know is better
felt than told, says Frank Lsslie's.
1t will please the misogynist or confirm
him in his cynicism, to know that the
male mosquito sis al inoffsnsive creature,
and like the bee, dotes on honey. 1t is
the female that buzzes around your ear,
then alights on you and gets in her fin
work" Why the mosquito bites you,
DR.. Dimmock says, is known. We have
popularity supposed that it was to get
food; but it is now proved that a mos
quito, after gorging itself with human
blood, dies within a few hours. Such Of
these insects as eschew human diet often
live through an ensuing winter to enjoy
a second season. In the larva stage it
has stored up enough nutriment for a
lifetime-and therefore things palatable
nAO VI lhVlbdOlOA W dOhbne
needs most is moist air; and SO mosqui-
toes have been known to exist in moist
cellars through all the winter months.
Much as W are bitten by them it is
only for mutual damage-the impulse on
their part being something like the
~drunkard's for grog: and much as we
complain of them as a pest, DR.. Dim.
mock says not one In ten Thousand ever
tastes human blood. There has been a
doctrine a1oat that the bite of the mos.
quito is beneficial to US, after all; that it
%inoculates US just slightly enough with
the malaria which makes a part of its
environment to save US from any real at
tack of it. But this remains to be proved.
1 Havana DIR. Finlay has found that
yellow fever is carried by the mos
quitoes." They will bits a patient laden
with the germ and then pass 1t on to
another person disastrously. Perhaps
the second or third one it attacks In this
way will not fare SO badly, for he may be
made only a srife ill from what is a true
incubation.
1t is wet weather, of course, that breeds
mosquitoes. "When the female is ready
to lay her eggs she chooses a stagnant
pool and shapes the batch of eggs SO they
float about On top" 1t takes only a few
days for the wriggler." which we have
all seen, to hatch out. The "~wrigglers"
are the larvae. They are often found in
tubs, apparently hanging head down
ward; but in this position they are
breathing. In a few days the "wriggler"
becomes q pupa, floats around for a
while on Its skin, gets dried as it floats
and soon takes wing for its pleasure and
a human crusade.
The perfect ~anti-mosquito remedy is
yet to be found-that is, the means which
shall destroy them. Campers out in the
Catskills and elsewhere drive them off
with a smudge; and petroleum poured on
the surface Of ponds where they breed
has been thought to diminish their num-
bers. Aromatic ,ointments containing
camphor and p~ennyroyal are good to use
IN the face and hands for repelling their
onset. The DEVILS darning needle, or
dragon-fy, is the mosquitoes enemy; but
as he Is also bis own, he does not increase
fast enough to keep the mosquitoes down.
Professor Smith, of New Jersey, says
that the species in his State is peculiar.
"In other States the mosquito acts in a
business like way-takes one nip and
goes about her business. But our spedses
are much different. They will give a
musical performance by way of intro
d%uction, then hover about some unreach-
able spot and give their final jab, and
there will be a large lump there in a few
minutes. / have studied them all, and
find the New Jersey specimen by far the
most interesting"
There is no doubt that this last judg-
ment is confirmed By an i~mpregnable
body of unwilling human experience.
One of the most interesting facts about
the mosquito is that its weapon of tor.
ment is multifold. It is, in fact COM
posed of six different Observation-Disclosures
as many as there are in a carpenter kit OF
tools. From such surgery as these imply
which we call a "bits"-many people
this present year have been made seri-
ously i'll ;and in three or four cases, not
all of New jersey origin, fatal results
have followed.