The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1902-07-11
TIE MOSQUITO SONG.
Caused by Action of Wings and the In.
aeetta 'RreafhinR

Caused by Action of Wings and the Ins
sect's Breathing.
You can best observe the mosquito In
action by letting one settle undisturbed
on the back of your hand, and waiting
while she fills herself with your blood;
you can easily watch her doing so with
pocket lens. Like the old lady IN
'Pickwick," she is soon swelling wis
ibly." She georges herself with blood
indeed, which she straightway digests,
assimilates and converts into 300 eggs.
But If, while she Is sucking, you gently
and unobtruslyely tighten the skin OF
your hand by clenching your fist hard
you will find that she cannot any longer
withdraw her mandibles; they are
caught fast in your flesh by their own
harpoon-like teeth, and there she must
stop accordingly till you choose to re-
lease her. If you then kill her in the
usual manner by smart slap OF the
hand, you will see that she is literally
full of blood, having sucked in good
drop of 1t.
The humming sound itself by which
the mosquito announces her approach
ing visit is produced by two distinct
manners. The deeper notes which go
to make up her droning song are due to
the rapid vibration of the female In
sect's wings as she flies; and these vi
brations are found by means OF siren
(an instrument which measures the fire.
Quency of the waves in notes. ia
amount to about 5000 in minute. The
mosquitoes wings must, therefore, move
with this extraordinary rapidity, which
sufficiently accounts for the difficulty
we have in catching one.
But the higher and shrlller notes OF
the complex melody are due to special
stridulating organs situated like little
drums on the openings of the air tubes
for the adult mosquito breathes no
longer by one or two air entrances on
the tail or back, like the larva, but by
q number of spiracles, as they are
called, arranged in rows along the sides
of the body and communicating with
the network of internal air chambers.
The curious mosquito music this gen
Grated by the little drums serves almost
beyond a doubt as a means of attract
ing male mosquitoes, for 1t is known
that the long hairs on the antennae Of
the males vibrate sympathetically in
union with the notes of a tuning fork,
within the range Of the sounds emitted
by the female. In other words, hair
and drums just answer to one another,
We may, therefore, reasonably con
clude that the female sings in order to
please and attract her wandering mate,
and that the antennae of the mate are
organs Of hearing which catch and re-
spond to the buzzing music she pours
forth for her lovers ears. A whole
swarm OF gnats can be brought down,
indeed, by utterlng the appropriate note
of the race; you can call them some
what as you can call male glow worms
by showing a light which they mistake
for the female.-Strand Magazine.
!. Honored His Uniform.
The capitol police wear natty uni
forms of blue cloth adorned with brass
buttons, and, taken all together. are an
attractive body of men. One of these
public servants, a rather young and
good-looking man, was greatly embar.
rassed the other day by a handsome
young creature from Virginia, who,
tripping gayly up to him, pinned hand
some rose to the lapel Of his coat.
Take that with my gratitude" she
said, theatrically, my country's de-
fender"
"Country's defender, missY" echoed
the astonished man.
YES" replied the enthusiastic young
woman, you have got a new uniform
on, but for all that you look brave and
I know you were In the thick of the
fight at Santiago"
II was useless TO attempt an explana-
ton with so determined hero worship
er. and tha member Of the capitol police
force beat a hasty retreat. stm wearing
his rose.-New York Tribune
increase oI lancer.
In 10 years. IL cancer Increases at
the present rate that part Of the hu-
man race over 80 years Of age win be