EFFECT OF BITE 319 



who told me of his sufferings from mosquito bites while a specimen was deliber- 

 ately filling itself from his lower lip, not in the least disturbed by the talk. Mr. 

 Brehme does not notice marsh mosquito attacks at all ; but he bolts green-head 

 flies. Mr. Brakeley captures perturhans by looking at his ankles occasionally 

 and bottling any specimens he may see there. It is only when he sees them that 

 he knows they are present and yet perturhans is a hard biter ! 



" On the other hand, I have met many persons to whom even a single bite 

 was a torture and who were in positive agony during a stay along shore. In such 

 persons puffy swellings appear and cover an area an inch or more in diameter 

 from a single bite. When bites are at all numerous the suffering is intense and 

 the appearance pitiable. Between these extremes all intergrades are found ; but 

 I have never found a man yet, who, in a mosquito region, had not at times been 

 driven out by mosquitoes. 



" Personally the insects bother me, but the pain is usually temporary and, if I 

 refrain from scratching, a matter of a few minutes only. And this brings up the 

 matter of species; for a man may be exempt as against one species and not 

 another. Boatmen and others along shore, who never know whether mosquitoes 

 are present in their own territory, suffer severely and swear loudly when they get 

 within range of the inland mosquitoes ; and the contrary is equally true. 



" Nowadays I scarcely mind sollicitans at all, and cantator does not worry 

 me much. C. pipiens is more troublesome and its bites sometimes cause distinct 

 swellings ; but I can sleep through any attack save that of Anopheles. This has 

 a different song and a different manner of attack, and somehow I do not feel at 

 ease near it. I will awaken at any time to a specimen buzzing about, where I 

 would not mind any species of Culex. These are, of course, personal character- 

 istics, and may not apply to any other individual. The case is cited merely to 

 show that there is a difference between the virus of the species and between the 

 susceptibility of individuals. 



" There is also a difference in the manner of attack. Some species hover about 

 for a long time, selecting a place to puncture; others dart in at once, giving 

 scarcely any notice of their arrival; some fly at the least disturbance, while 

 others can scarcely be driven off when once they have tasted blood. . . ." 



There can be little doubt that people become inoculated against this poison. 

 Persons living in mosquito-ridden localities as a rule suffer less than those who 

 come there from more favored regions, and it seems likely that after a severe 

 case of mosquito poisoning the inoculating effect may last for a long time. An 

 instance of this was sent us in 1900 by the late lamented Edward Everett Hale, 

 who wrote : 



" I think I am an instance of inoculation by mosquitoes' virus. More than 

 fifty years ago I went into the Maine woods, going to Katahdin. The first after- 

 noon we were out hardly an hour, but at night, when we went into camp, I 

 counted sixty well defined mosquito bites on my right hand alone. Kow from 

 that time to this I have hardly been troubled by mosquitoes. I dislike their song 

 at night, and if I saw one on my hand I should kill it, but after the moment of 

 the sting I never remember that I have been bitten." 



