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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[April 1, 1867. 



of the scope and purport of zoology, but has given 

 au imperfect example of the manner in which, in 

 my opinion, that science, or indeed any physical 

 science, may be studied. The great matter is to 

 make the study real and practical, by fixing the 

 attention on particular facts ; but at the same time 

 it should be rendered broad and comprehensive by 

 constant reference to the generalizations of which 

 all particular facts are illustrations. The lobster 

 has served as a type of the whole animal kingdom, 

 and its anatomy and physiology have illustrated for 

 us some of the greatest truths of biology. The 

 student who has once seen for himself the facts 

 which I have described, has had their relations ex- 

 plained to him, and has clearly comprehended them, 

 has so far a knowledge of zoology, which is real and 

 genuine, however limited it may be, and which is 

 worth more than all the mere reading knowledge of 

 the science he could ever acquire. His zoological 

 information is, so far, knowledge and not mere 

 hearsay. 



MOSQUITOES. 



" En avant, Monseigneur Maringouin ! " 



"DEADERS of Science Gossip, permit me to 

 -*-*' make you acquainted with a Madam and 

 Monseigneur Mosquito, recently from North- 

 western America. At the same time I can assure 

 you, from a past and painful experience, that an 

 introduction to them in these pages is infinitely 

 preferable to being on terms of greater familiarity. 



To obstinate, self-willed, persistently persevering 

 persons, whose sole end and aim is to pester all 

 with whom they are brought into collision, it is a 

 common custom, " down South," to say, " en avant, 

 Monseigneur Maringouin!" Individuals such as 

 these are for all the world like to Mosquitoes, and 

 the admonitory warning just quoted is as good as 

 it is truthful. Who ever knew a Mosquito give 

 up ? Determined obstinacy is the very substance 

 and stamina of its existence. Eret and work your- 

 self into a state of irritability bordering upon frenzy, 

 stamp, scratch, slap, rub — it is not of the slightest 

 use ; after every rebuff, the inveterate persecutors 

 only buzz the more loudly, and stab their blades the 

 deeper into one's flesh. 



As regards Monseigneur, we have not much to 

 say : he takes things very easily, does pretty much 

 as he likes, dines and sups as best befits his inclina- 

 tions — finding amidst the nectar-making! flowers 

 everything suited to his requirements. Having 

 paid his addresses to the ladies, and flirted to his 

 heart's desire, he grows rapidly old, and very soon 

 dies. 



With Madam it is altogether a different affair ; she 

 has important duties to perform : publicly, to annoy 

 and persecute every "man, woman, and beast within 



her reach ; privately, to deposit her eggs safely in a 

 fitting situation, to insure the perpetuation of her 

 species. Madam and all her kindred have a dis- 

 agreeable fondness for my blood, why or wherefore 

 is not easy of explanation, and invariably make me 

 their especial victim. So surely as I am enjoying 

 myself, it matters not how many persons are present, 

 I always observe these blood-loving amazons prefer 

 to leave the rest, and, with self-satisfied hums, make 

 straight for me, to crowd into my ears and up my nose, 

 and, as though they were "ile seekers,"eack one there 

 and then bores a hole, aud greedily pumps up the 

 much-coveted fluid. They have even a more detest- 

 able habit than this : they seem to delight in taking- 

 refuge in my whiskers, and to rout them from this 

 ambush is as difficult a job as that of routing bears 

 and peccaries from out a cane-brake, which can only 

 be accomplished by setting the place on fire— a 

 stratagem that would in all likelihood prove quite 

 as disagreeable to me as the Mosquitoes; in this 

 dilemma I patiently await their movements, and 

 deftly press my finger on every offender as the prick 

 of the lancets reveals its whereabouts. Now this 

 suspense, metaphorically waiting for a bite, is 

 tantalising in the extreme, if you are trying just at 

 that critical moment to say something more than 

 usually impressive to some favoured fair one, and 

 distrust the stability of your nerves. Mentally I 

 exclaim, " En avant, Madam Maringouin ! " bite a 

 person with a more delicate skin, or feast upon one 

 of your own sex, or 



Try some plump alderman, and suck his blood, 

 Enriched by generous wine and costly meat ; 

 On well-filled skins, sleek as thy native mud, 

 Fix thy light pump and press thy freckled feet. 

 Go to the men for whom, in ocean's halls, 

 The oyster breeds and the green turtle sprawls. 



Whether the female Mosquito has in all cases the 

 same number of lancets, it is difficult to determine. 

 Leuwenhoek says four, Reaumur five, Swammerdam 

 and Latreille mention six, and there are others who 

 stand out for seven ; but of one thing I am positive, 

 some Mosquitoes are able to inflict a puncture 

 in less time, and of greater depth, than others. 

 Will any one be bold enough to say, the stab of a 

 summer gnat, or even that of the full-sized Mos- 

 quito we are ordinarily familiar with, is inflicted by 

 an instrument identical with that which enabled the 

 " Skeeters " to pierce through the military boots of 

 the Father of the States, in the Jersey marshes, 

 and, if history is truthful in its record of that event, 

 caused that usually exemplary man to indulge in bad 

 language, or, as we read it, "swear like a trooper ;" 

 or that attacked the army of Julian the Apostate, 

 and drove him back ; or that compelled Sapor, king 

 of Persia, to raise the siege of Nisibis, stinging his 

 elephants and camels into a state of fury ; or that 

 render the banks of the river Po at some places 

 uninhabitable ; or, as Humboldt tells us, oblige the 



