Insect Study 405 



The Adult Mosquito 



1. Has the mosquito feathery antennas extending out in front? If 

 so, what kind of mosquitoes are such? 



2. Do the mosquitoes with bushy antennae bite? Do they sing? 



3 . Are the wings of the mosquito spotted or plain ? How many has it ? 



4. When at rest, is it shortened and humpbacked or does it stand 

 straight out with perhaps its hind legs in the air? 



5. What are the characteristics by which you can tell the dangerous 

 Anopheles? 



6. Why is the Anopheles more dangerous than the Culex? 



7. Examine a mosquito's wing under a microscope and describe it. 



8. Examine the antennas of a male and a female mosquito under a 

 microscope, and describe the difference. 



9. Which sex of the mosquito does the biting and the singing? 

 10. How is the singing done? 



THE HOUSE-FLY 



Teacher's Story 



HE house-fly is surely an up-to-date member of that 

 select class which evolutionists call the "fit." It 

 flourishes in every land, plumping itself down in 

 front of us at table, whether we be eating rice in 

 Hong Kong, dhura in Egypt, macaroni in Italy, pie 

 in America, or tamales in Mexico. There it sits, 

 impertinent and imperturbable, taking its toll, 

 letting down its long elephant-trunk tongue, rasping 

 and sucking up such of our meal as fits its needs. 

 As long as we simply knew it as a thief we, during 

 untold ages, merely slapped it and shooed it, which 



effort on our part apparently gave it exhilarating exercise. But during 

 recent years we have begun trapping and poisoning, trying to match our 

 brains against its agility ; although we slay it by thousands, we seem only 

 to make more room for its well-fed progeny of the future, and in the end 

 we seem to have gained nothing. But the most recent discoveries of 

 science have revealed to us, that what the house-fly takes of our food, is 

 of little consequence to what it leaves behind. Because of this, we have 

 girded up our loins and gone into battle in earnest. 



I have always held that nature-study should follow its own peaceful 

 path and not be the slave of economic science. But occasionally it seems 

 necessary, when it is a question of creating public sentiment, and of cul- 

 tivating public intelligence in combating a great peril, to make nature- 

 study a handmaiden, if not a slave, in this work. If our woods were filled 

 with wolves and bears, as they were in the days of my grandfather, I 

 should give nature-study lessons on these animals, which would lead to 

 their subjugation. Bears and wolves trouble us no more; but now we 

 have enemies far more subtle, in the ever-present microbes, which we may 

 never hope to conquer but which, with proper precautions, we may render 

 comparatively harmless. Thus, our nature-study with insects which 



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