The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-06-08
FACTS ABOUT MOSQUITOES.
Many Varieties of the Insect and All
Objectionable.
New Orleans Times-Democrat.

New Orleans Times-Democrat.
There are a few facts which may in the
future be incorporated In the biography of
the mosquito. facts which have been col
lected partly by the inquiry of scientists
and partly by the observations of laymen
who live in sections where the pestiferous
Insect thrives in great numbers. The mos
quito Is observed in three different forms,
as an egg, in larvae, as a wiggletail, and
as mosquito with wings. Eggs are
matched by the warmth of the sun. One
mosquito may lay 100000 eggs. Often
many or these eggs are destroyed Mos
quitoes cannot propagate without the aid
surface Of the water. Eggs hatch within
a few weeks after they are deposited by
the female. They develop wiggletails, the
curious form of life often found in rain
barrels. cisterns. in cutters filled with
stagnant water and in stagnant pools. In
this wiggletail stage of his development
the mosquito breathes through his tail.
He spends this part of his life in rushing
to and from the surface of the water.
When he reaches the surface, with head
down, he shoves two delicate syphons
above the water level, supplies his lungs
with the needed air, and dives under the
water again, where he sucks in the vege-
He remains a wiggletail for a week or
ten days, when his wings develop and he
becomes a navigator OF the air and sails
forth to torment members of the human
family and other animals. He Is fond of
animal blood. He needs IL in his business.
He cannot propagate without 1T. He also
likes sugar. Blood, sugar and vegetable
juices are his principal diet. A mosquitoes
food capacity is roughly estimated at one
drop of blood. His dimensions are uncer-
tain. The gray mosquito, the day tor
mentor. is probably the smallest variety.
He is of a very light weight, not tipping
the beam at more than one-fourth of
grain, and often not weighing quite so
much. Some of them are so light when I'M
fed that they will not disturb the balance
of the most delicately poised scales. The
small mosquito is the treacherous kind.
He always lights on the under side of the
hand or arm, apparently knowing that he
is beyond the reach of the eye. He IS the
same fellow who will crawl under the edges
of the bar or slip under the sheet. There
is another and a larger vaviety, a kind
that will drop on you like a fake of snow,
but they do not feel like a flake of snow.
They land with their labium, lance, I'M
folded and with point down, and they be-
gin operations at once. While the mosquito
of this brand weighs about one-half of a
grain, he seems to have the tonnage and
potentiality of pile driver when he pune
lures the skin. There are about $50 known
varieties of mosquitoes in this section of
the world. The mosquitoes labium, the
thing he stings with, is of uncertain length.
1t is as sharp AS a needle, hollow like a
hair, and il is through this that he sucks
blood into his system. The mosquito can
not stand a strong wind. He seeks low
place when the wind is high. He never gets
more than one hundred yards from the
place of his birth. The eggs are deposited
on still, stagnant water. Otherwise they
quito covers a span of sixty days. AS a
dissemination of diseases, scientific men
have agreed that his responsibility is very
heavy.