The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-08-04
THE PLAGUE OF MOSQUITOES.
Talk With Expert Entomologist,
Or. DimmocIk Gives Light on the INA.
puted Facts ON the Life and Works of
Insects.
lSnringfield Republican,

ANYONE who has tried to sit ont.of-
doors lately, especially after twilight,
must have been painfully aware of the
fact that there is an unusually large
number of mosquitoes abroad this sum
mer. The Dog Days never fail to bring
plentiful supply of the mischievous lit
tie insect, but this year they have
swarmed in upon us in overwhelming
numbers. The rain has managed to
keep the lover of the hammock inside for
good share of the summer, and now
as soon as the weather clears up and
warm evenings are promised, the tor
mentlng mosquito arrives upon the scene
and once more the pleasure seeker is driy-
en- indoors behind the screens. The
Chautauquans up at Laurel Park had no
end Of suffering from the wicked insects.
and all Western Massachusetts, knows
how to sympathize with them. Nor have
we in this section been the only sufferers.
But in Boston recently the base ball spec
tators were SO annoyed that the urchins.
instead of selling lemonade and buns
stocked up with mosquito netting to put
over the heads of the cranks and sold
their dry goods to considerable profit.
The whole State has gone into mourning.
Some benevolently inclined philosophers
have attempted to console the people with
some ingenious theories recently to the
effect that mosquito bites are healthful,
but DR.. George Dimmock of Grant street
in this city, who has written for the Eli
cyclopedia Britannica on smaller subjects
and from his laboratory up on State
street is making discoveries which are
earning for him almost an international
reputation as an authority in entomolo-
gy, says that this consoling phase of the
subject is yet far from being established.
The mosquito simply is here and we
must mako the best of it. And the cause
of his appearance in such numbers is to
be found in natural phenomena, namely,
the excessive rainfall. The mosquito
breeds in the water When the female is
about to lay her eggs she chooses stag
nant pool and shapes the batch of eggs so
that they float on top. After few days
little fish like animal energies from the
bottom of each egg and becomes. in the
language of the schoolboy, 'wriggler.
Every one who has looked into rain tub
on a hot July day has seen these little
creatures wriggling themselves through
the water. These are the larvae. If one
approaches the tut, quietly he can see
them resting at the top, seemingly hang
ing head downward from the surface of
~, ~ Sc
are breathing, for the animal must have
air as well as water. The mosquito re-
mains in this state for several days, when
1t becomes a pupa, and few days later
the skin of the pupa is seen to split down
the back and the winged mosquito care
himself on his outgrown skin, using it
as a raft while he dries himself and gets
strength for his flight. His slender body
soon dries off, he spreads his wings and
starts off on his mission of mischief
Thus the heavy rain of this season, by
making little pools everywhere about the
country, has facilitated the propagation
of the species-for the female has not
been obliged to HE herself off to some
lonely pond as in past SINNERS, but has
found plenty of pools right here near at
home. These artificial pools, moreover,
have had the advantage of being free
from the fishes and other inhabitants of
ponds which prey upon the 'wigglers.
Thus the mosquito has found things COM
ing his way this summer with ven
geance, and he is beginning to arrive in
numbers that threaten the extinction
of the human race before the season is
over.
1t is only in the last few years that we
have known just how the mosquito gets
in his bill and sucks the blood. Scien-
lists had general idea, but it was not
until DIR. Dimmock began his investiga-
lions that the mosquitoes modus operandi
has become fully known. Mr.. Dimmook
was at Leipsic, Germany, at the time,
working for his Phi. D. degree, his sub
ject being the mouth pieces of insects.
Applying his powerful microscope to the
bill Of the mosquito, he discovered it to
be composed Of six distinct prongs, with
a sheaf around the whole. When the in
sect 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 q 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
OH 1nGO bne dlf. Ou0 ny luSoIUiuS bne6o
two hooks alternately he actually pulls
his beak inside his victims flesh. The
next two prongs are joined together to
make 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. and is meant
to reap in the harvest, for which all the
other work is merely preliminary, for 1t
is a tube, through which the insect sucks
in the blood of his sacrifice. OF course
all these prongs are exceedingly minute.
Not only the naked eye, but most micro
scopes, fail to show their separate exis-
tence, and it was only when DR.. Dim
mock had applied his strongest micro
scope to some neatly cut cross sections
that he made the discovery.
just why the mosquito bites people is
not yet known. 1t is not to furnish him
food, for it is an established fact that a
mosquito after gorging himself with HUI
man blood, dies within few hours:
whereas mosquitoes that have never tasted
blood have been known to live very COM
fortably even through the entire winter