194 JUNGLE ISLAND 



These two are easy to tell from the others. 

 Look at the picture of Anopheles (Fig. 83) and see 

 her long hind legs, tilting her up when she puts her 

 beak down to bite so that she looks as if she were 

 standing on her head. Our ordinary mosquito 

 stands with its back almost level when it bites. 



Aedes is a dark mosquito with the fore part of 

 her body beautifully marked with a silver design 

 like a lyre (Fig. 85). At a little distance she 

 looks gray. 



I worked in Panama with several Americans of 

 long experience in the jungle. The large animals 

 interested them but did not ^larm them. They 

 were not afraid of jaguars nor of boa constrictors 

 and they spent little thought on poisonous snakes. 

 They feared drinking unclean water, but that 

 they could guard against. What they really 

 dreaded was a bite from an infected little Aedes 

 or Anopheles, with yellow fever or a long, hard 

 case of malaria to follow. 



The big and wonderful work of building the 

 Canal could never have been accompHshed if 

 Colonel Gorgas and his men had not first learned 

 how to conquer the mosquitoes. Some day, not 

 far off, we hope to be able to say that there is 

 no more yellow fever anywhere in the world. 

 When that old fear and danger is past, and we 

 can go safe from it into any part of the rich 

 tropics, it will be an even more important happen- 

 ing than the building of the Panama Canal. 



