Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-05-16

get together ninety different kinds or
them Some of them were good, 9TH
ers were bad, and a few were indif-
ferent. The good ones seemed to make
a business of eating the young of the
bad ones, while the Indifferent ones
did no more harm than to bite when
ever opportunity offered. Thirty of
The species he found were entirely new
to science, and it is his opinion that
continued search would reveal still
others. But even the present knowl-
edge of the Isthman mosquito shows
more different species in that terri
tory than in any other territory of
equal size in the world.
There are three kinds of mosquitoes
which are most familiar to the lay
man, just as the Smith Brown and
Jones families are said to be the most
numerous in the English speaking
world. .The most familiar of the mo-
squto families is the CuleX. There are
dozens of different branches of this
family, but the Hnship is not so re-
mote but that the entomologist can
trace the likeness. This CuleX family
of mosquitoes is a very reputable one.
of course it bites, and is very both
ersome at times, but yet 1t has never
been convicted of any high crimes and
misdemeanors, such, for instance, as
the spread of disease.
Next to the CuleXes are the Ano-
pheles. There is but little to be said
in their behalf, though they are able
to put up pretty good defense. They
are the carriers of the malaria germ.
Science has not made out good case
against the whole family, and it APP
pears that there are some of them
which do not deserve the opprobrium
that the sufferer from chills and fever
hurls at the whole tribe. But the most
of them do spread malaria. They,
however, take different view of the
situation. From their standpoint it is
man that gives them malaria, and they
only return it with interest.
II happens this way. Here is a
splendid looking specimen of the mos
quito kinda female always. She hap
pens to meet with a person on her
travels, and she concludes to suck a
little blood She never heard of such a
thing as malaria, and the person does
not advise her of the fact that he has
it. The result is a sick mosquito, suf-
ferine from malaria. She loafs around
a while. nursing herself back to health,
and when she gets well enough to
travel about again she gets a thirst for
human gore once more, and bites some
other person. She has a little saw and
spear with which she attacks him, and
in order to aid in the extraction of the
blood she puts little saliva into the
wound she makes. 1t so happens that
in this saliva is the germ that she
caught from biting the other person,
and in this way the second person gets
it, When this germ lands into the sec
ond human body it attacks the red
corpuscles in the blood. The germ null
tiplies with lightning rapidity, and the
chills and fever follow the breaking of
the corpuscles asunder in great num-
bers.
The third family known to the lay
man is the stegomyia. This is the fam
lily that is responsible for the spread
of yellow fever Some of the members
are probably innocent, but the whole
family has been put under the ban.
This family constitutes the aristocracy
of the mosquito world. These mos
puitoes wish no mud puddles for their
homes, no dwelling places in swamps
They want fashionable quarters near
human beings. They want clean quar-
ters. too. These quarters must be rain
barrels, vases, idle water buckets and
such places They do not care to go
out in the sun or fly around in the
wind. They like to live in peoples
houses and to adjust their habits to
those of the household, while the ano-
pheles family insist on coming around
after bedtime.
The health of each member of the
Stegomyia family is always good UNI
til one happens to bite some person
who has yellow fever. Through drink
ing this sick persons blood it gets
germ in it's little inside that makes 1t
sick This germ eats through the walls
of the mosquitoes stomach and plays
other bad tricks. At the end of twelve