454 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



It is commonly and quite naturally thought that mosquitoes breed 

 in wet grass, as they are often seen to rise from it in clouds \yhen dis- 

 turbed, j^articularly in the early morning and evening. They have not 

 bred there, however, but have merely sought the shelter of the grass 

 where they can be protected from the wind. The moisture of the dew 

 upon the grass also furnishes an attraction for them and they always 

 prefer damp rather than dry places. 



Another popular theory is that mosquitoes will l^reed 07ili/ in foul 

 or stagnant water. This is also a mistaken idea though they often do 

 breed in such water, not because it is impure or stagnant, however, 

 but because these places are usually quiet and here the female can 

 deposit her eggs undisturbed. 



It is commonly supposed that mosquitoes do not breed in salt water, 

 but the recent 'Mosquito Investigations' of Professor John B. Smith, 

 of ISTew Jersey, which were published in the New Jersey Agricultural 

 College Experiment Station Eeport of Kovember, 1902, show that the 

 larvge of Culex sollicitanSj the 'Salt marsh mosquito,' not only prefer 

 salt or brackish water, but are seldom found in pools where the water 

 i,< strictly fresh, and, contrary to the usual custom, this mosquito lays 

 its eggs upon the soil of marsh or meadow land. There the eggs 

 remain until the advent of an unusually high tide. Then after a few 

 hours when the water has covered them, the infant larvae make their 

 appearance. 



It is very generally believed that mosquitoes bite but once and then 

 die. This is sometimes so; but, unless they are killed in the act of 

 biting, they usually live to bite again. The female mosquito (for it 

 is only the female that attacks human beings) bites many times. It 

 is owing to this fact that Anopheles is able to convey the germs of 

 malarial fever from person to 2:)erson. When biting any one who is 

 afflicted with malaria, the insect drawls in with the l)lood the germs 

 of the disease, which it afterwards carries on into the blood of another 

 victim. The vast majority of mosquitoes never get human blood for 

 food. In its absence they live upon the blood of birds and other 

 animals, and when these are not to be found, upon the juices of young 

 and tender plants. 



It is not known just how long mosquitoes can live, but their 

 average life is much longer than is ordinarily supposed. Thousands 

 of them live through winter hibernating or asleep in dark places in 

 barns or house cellars. In sparsely settled localities, where they can 

 not find such places for shelter, they live through the winter in hollow 

 trees, in caves and holes under upturned trees; and, even though the 

 temperature may fall far below freezing, they arc not winter-killed, 

 liiit on Uu' a])proach of warm weather become active again. Mosqui- 



