FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS. 



Everyone knows a Mosquito, or thinks he does. The 

 proboscis of the female is fitted for sucking but the mouth- 

 parts of the male are rudimentary (he cannot "bite") and 

 his antennae are very plumose. The veins of a mosquito's 

 wings are scaly, as is also the body. The larvae are aquatic ; 

 they are the "wrigglers" such as most of us have seen in 

 rain barrels. Owing to the interest in mosquitoes by 

 reason of their connection with malaria and yellow fever, 

 they have been extensively studied and many genera 

 and species have been described. For most purposes 

 we, in the North, can stick to the old division into two 

 principal genera, Anopheles and Culex. See Plate LXIV. 



The palpi of the adult female are nearly 

 Anopheles as j ong as t k e p ro boscis, so that her beak 



appears to be three-pronged (do not mix in the antennae). 

 Possibly other species carry malaria but the only United 

 States species which has been definitely convicted is quadri- 

 maculatus (maculipennis of some authors). Plate LXIV 

 will help you identify it but beware of any three-beaked, 

 spotted-winged mosquito. When properly posed, it 

 holds the body at an angle to the surface upon which it 

 rests, the beak being in the same direction as the body. 

 It may have previously sucked the blood of a malarial 

 patient; the malarial parasite may then have worked 

 its way from the mosquito's "stomach" to its salivary 

 glands and be ready for injection into you. The eggs of 

 Anopheles are laid singly in water. The larvae live among 

 surface vegetation in fresh water, usually where sewage is 

 absent and a slight current prevents stagnation. Larvae 

 have been reported from brackish water but in my experi- 

 ence those found near salt meadows were in fresh-water 

 pools. They have a short breathing siphon at the hind 

 end of their body and float parallel with the surface of the 

 water. Adults hibernate in sheltered places such as 

 cellars and hollow trees. 



Our northern species are harmless, except 



that the females bite; in fact, they bite 



harder than Anopheles but they do not carry malaria. 



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