The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-16
STUDYING THE MOSQUITO
B Fssdsu;s J. Ii.sliu,


 since the fam6us Yellow Fever com
 mission, headed by pr. Walter Esed'
 succeeded in laying at the door of tae
 mosquito the responsibility TOT yne
 spread Of yellow fever, that sancy
 little insect has had it's home and it's habits pried into on every hand. ana in ten years the world has learned
 more about it than in ell the genera tfons before. And still the scientist is not satisfied with what he has learn
 ed of 1t. but is studying with more determination than ever. A few de- cades ago men knew there were only e few species. or tribes of mosauitos,
 Now they know four hundred species and the end is not yet.
 One of the most interesting sadt- tons to our knowledge of the mos
 quito is that just given out oy tho Smithsonian Institution. which Is the result of the investigations made by August Busck of the mosquito life along the Panama canal. By patient search. covering the end of one dry season and the beginning Of the foi- lowing rainy season. he was able tc get together ninety different Kinds of them. Some of them were Good. oth- CTS were bad. and a few were indiffer- ent. The good ones seemed to make U Duolucbc VI tatlnA tbS EV4h& oh sN' bad ones. while the indifferent ones did no more harm than to bite when ever opportunity offered. Thirty Of the species iie found were entirely new to science. and 1t Is his opinion that continued search would reveal still others. But even the present knowledge of the Isthmian mosquito shows more different species in that territory than in any other te = ory of equal size in the world.
 There are three kinds of mosquitoes which are most familiar to the law man, just as the Smith, Brown and Jones families are said to be the most numerous in the English speak ing world. The most familiar Of the mos quito families is the Culex. There are dozens of different branches of :his family. but the kinship is not 90 re- mote but that the sntomoiogist can trace the likeness. This Cuiex family of mosquitoes Is a very reputable one. Of course 1t bites. and is very bothersome at times. but yet 1t has never been convicted of eny hign crimes and misdemeanors. such, for Instance, as the spread of disease,
 Next to the Culexes are the Ai,oph- eies. There is but little to be said Tn their behalf. though they ace able t6 put up a pretty good defense. They are the carriers of the malaria germ. Science has not made out good case against the whole family, and it ap- pears that there are some of them which do not deserve the approbrinn that the sufferer from chiiis and fever hurls at the whole tribe. Bitt the most of them do spread malaria They. situation From their standpoint it is man that gives them malaria. and they only return 1t with interest.
 1t happens this way. Here is a splendid looking specimen of the mos quito kind--a female always. .rShe happens 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 sick mos quito, suffering from malaria. She ioafs around awhile, nursing herself back to health. and whom she gets we'll enough to travel about again, she gets thirst for human gore once more, and bites some other person. She has little saw and spear with which she attacks him, and in order to aid in. the extrackion of the blood she puts little saliva into the wound she makes. It soerhappens that in this saliva Is the germ that she caught from biting the other person, and In thtas fwRE thei oseeond' person, gets 1t. .ya When this eersn Hands fnso the second hurtan fbodB if attacks the red corpuscies in the blood. The germ inultiplies with liehtn,ng rapidity, and the chtllg and fever follow ti1& breaking oE the corruscies asunder in great numbers ! fes stt7s tsv n 4; ffi
 The third family known &osths lay- man, is the Stegomyia. This ia the family 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 mosquitos wish no mud pud- dles for their homes, no dwelling places in swamps. They want fash fonable quarters near human beings They want clean quarters. too. These quarters must be rain barrels. vases. idle water buckets and such piaces ' They do not l,eare .t6 Rb out. iT Sils. sun or fly around in the. yind :, !, They, iike to I've Tn peoples houses, ana to household. while the AnopheIes sam.s fly insist on coming around after hed- time. S
 The health of each member as !tke Stegomyia family is always good ,,n. til one happens to bite some person who has yellow fever. Through drIni~- Ing this sick persons blood. it gets a germ into its little inside that mag e It SICK. This germ, eats through the walls Of the mosquitoes stomach and plays other bad tricks. At the end or twelve days that germ has become .. q nVe wire. even though 1t is so fne that the best microscope fails fo re- veal t. When an infested raosnntfo wants another dinner of human blood ana pltes q person, it hands back the germ 1t inadvertently took from ths yellow fever patient 1t had blrten he. Tore. This germ does not atfanlr fha' red -corpuscles like the mafarih eeFn,. put revels in the liquid part instea,,' with even more fatal effects. The Stegomyia defends itself by showlne that never in the history of its race did it give yellow fever to man yntii And 1t would take a judge wise enouhg to tell which came first. the egg or the hen. to decide whether man first gave yellow fever to tba mosquito or the mosquito to man
 The male mosquito is something of a musician, and if you want to seq him all attention make a sound of 512 vibrations to the second, and he will begin to dance around with the grace of peacock That Is the tone in which his mate calls him. A Southern electrician some years aro accidentally learned about this trait of the mosquito. He was exneri- menting with harmonic telegraph fn- strument. The moment the instru- ment reached a certain pitch every male mosquito within hearing distance came hot foot to the, scene, but tbe sound had no attractions for the fe- afA