Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-05-16
STUDYING THE MOSQUITO
Bv Frederic j. HaSkfn

days that germ has become live wire,
even though it is so fine that the best
microscope fails to reveal it. When
an infected mosquito wants another
dinner of human blood and bites q
person, it hands back the germ it in
advertently took from the yellow fever
patient it had bitten before. This
germ does not attack the red cor
puscles like the malaria germ, but
revels in the liquid part instead, with
even more fatal effects. The Stegomyia
defends itself by showing that never
in the history of its race did it give
yellow fever to man until man had
first given the disease to it. And it
would take a judge wise enough TO
tell which came first, the egg or the
hen, to decide whether man first gave
yellow fever to the mosquito or the
mosquito to man.
The male mosquito is something of a
musician, and If you want 70 see him
all attention make a sound of 512 vi
brations to the second, and he will
begin to dance around with the grace
of a peacock. That is the tone in
which his mate calls him. A southern
electrician some years ago accidentally
learned about this trait of the mos
quito. He was experimenting with a
harmonic telegraph instrument. The
moment the instrument reached a GER
tain pitch every male mosquito within
hearing distance came hot foot to the
scene, but the sound had no attractions
for the females.
1t is said that the Culex females al
ways mediate awhile before biting, but
that the anopheles go right into the
bloody work with the air of a surgeon
who would have it quickly over. 1t is
contended that the fact that the male
mosquito never bites is not to be at
tributed to any particular forbearance
or goodness of heart, but rather to the
fact that his head is not properly
equipped for blood s+rrking on a salts
factory scale. Some of the recent in
vestigators even go so far as to believe
that it is an acquired habit with the
female, and not natural one. 1t will
be remembered that there is a wild
bird which learns to kill sheep after
long association with the shepherds
fioeks So it is with the female mos
quitoes, according to these inyestigat-
ors. These insects first learn to sup
liquids from the eyes of animals and
then acquire the habit of going be-
meath the skin. In nWny instances, It
is asserted, they acquire their taste for
blood by making a dinner in fresh
wounds. They have little bulb in
their proboscis like fountain pen filler,
and draw the blood with that
Some mosquitoes will bite one per-
son and show a distaste for another
Experiments have shown that the aver
age male mosquito is fond of beer and
wine, while the females will have moth
ing to do with such things. The male
Is essentially a vegetarian.
Unless Isaac Weld were qualifying
for membership in the Ananias club,
George Washington lost his reputation
for Veracity when discussing the mos
quito Weld declares in his "TraveIs
Through North SAmerica" that George
Washington told him that, of a truth,
he had encountered MOSQUITOES which
were able to bite through the thickest
boot. As this was In the campaigns
around New York and in New Jersey,
some will still believe that the Father
of his Country was not exaggerating
even there.
The department of agriculture has
recently issued a new bulletin on the
economic losses caused by insect pests
The mosquito has it's character black
ened i'll that report to such an extent
as to constitute criminal libel Not
only is it charged with being respon-
sible for much disease and SUFFERING
with heavy economic losses attendant
thereupon, but the assertion Is made
that 1t retards the development of
states and nations, and has caused the
decline and decay of other nations. 1t
is charged that vast areas around New
York, which would otherwise be bee
hives of industry and thrift, are held
under the dominion of the MOSQUITO
and made as uninhabitable to human
ity as the bleakest peak in the Rocky
mountains, In other places they have
so annoyed the cows that the milk
supply ran short and left the dairy
man a bankrupt. At Sheepshead bay
they annoyed the race horses so much
that the track authorities spent thou
sands of dollars in banishing them
from that section. One writer declares
that New Jersey taxable values are
$40, 100000 below what they would be
If it were not for the mosquito. An
other believes that the introduction of
malaria into Greece was largely re-
sponsible for the progressive physical
degeneration of one of the strongest
races of history. Still another asserts
that half Of Italy Is rendered more or
less inhospitable to mankind because
of the malarial mosquito.
And so the indictment runs. Charged
with causing the death of more than
100, 900 American citizens every decade
and with bringing about 5000, 900 cases
of malaria every year, all Of it result
ing in an economic loss large enough
to maintain the whole American army
year in and year out, the Anopheles
family stands a good prospect of being
banished forever by the court of en-
lightened opinion, and the "evil night
air" will be robbed Of it's terrors.
There are fish that have an appetite
for the larvae of malarial mosquitoes
greater than that of ferret for the
blood of a rat. In the island of Bar
bados these fish have effectively kept
the malarial mosquito from multiply
ing America will probably import
many such fish within the next few
years, and they will help solve the
problem of mosquito determination.
Copyright 1909, by Frederic ]. Haskin.)
TomorrOw-Progress in Manufacturing.