COLLECTING. MOUNTING AND REARING 



MOSQUITOES. 



COLLECTING ADULTS. 



In flight, adult mosquitoes may be captured with a net. A small, light, 

 silken net is preferable, though an ordinary insect net will serve, if care be takeu 

 to let the insects settle before inserting the bottle. The chloroform killing 

 bottle is the best, as the insects die more quickly and are thus less liable to injure 

 themselves. A satisfactory bottle may be made by placing a rubber stopper in 

 the bottom of a test-tube and pouring chloroform upon it. The chloroform is 

 absorbed by the rubber, which swells to fill the tube, and a supply of vapor is 

 subsequently given off without a residue of liquid to wet the captures. An ordi- 

 nary cyanide bottle will serve, but it is necessary with this to wait a longer time 

 until the insects are quiet before reopening it to admit others. Cotton should 

 be placed in the bottom of the tube or jar to keep the mosquitoes from becoming 

 abraded by sliding about as the jar is carried, or in the case of a small jar, narrow 

 strips of absorbent paper. On no account should any other insects be killed in 

 the same jar with mosquitoes. 



The female adults of many species are readily captured as they come to bite, 

 when they can generally be taken by placing the collecting bottle over them. 

 Horses or other animals may be used as bait, or the person of some obliging 

 friend. The collector can often attract specimens in some numbers by sitting 

 in the woods or open, evenings after dark or by day, according to the species 

 sought, and may collect them as they come. All males and those females that do 

 not bite may be taken by beating bushes and low vegetation, especially in damp 

 situations along streams and marshes. Some species frequent trunks of trees, 

 hiding in the crevices of the bark, and may be searched for in the daytime. 

 Outhouses, cellars and caves should be searched for the species which seek 

 shelter in such situations. 



MOUNTING ADULTS. 



In mounting the adults for the cabinet a double mount should always be used. 

 The insects are too small to admit of pinning them directly upon ordinary insect 

 pins, except those of the smallest calibre. These can only be handled with 

 forceps and this is very inconvenient in ordinary work. The specimens should 

 be mounted upon card-points, small triangular pieces of card, the insect glued 

 upon the small end, an insect pin passed through the larger end. The specimens 

 should be attached by the ventral surface of the thorax, so that the upper side 

 will be free for examination. We find shellac dissolved in alcohol the best 

 adhesive. The pins carrying the card-points should be stout enough to be 

 handled easily. Large specimens, like Megarhinus, may be pinned with the 

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