IX 



Hoii' to Collect (did Prexe)Tc j\foHqHltoes 



Iiiclnding- an Acconnt of How to Raise Mosquitoes aud 

 Study the Early Stages. 



ADULT mosquitoes are very fracfile creatures. Tlie 

 scales upon their bodies aud legs are easily rubbed 

 off, and the antenna^, and especially the legs, break 

 with the least handling-. Even in their ordinary course of 

 life the scales rub off, and with certain species an adult 

 which is two or three weeks old is quite different in ap- 

 pearance from one which has just (Miieiged from the pu^ta. 

 Practically, they can not be handh^d with the fingers, or 

 their value as cabinet s])eciiu(>ns or as spi^ciniens for study 

 is lost. With some forms there are important charac- 

 ters in the arrangement of the scales on the thorax. AVith 

 others the scales on the wing are of importance and if 

 the front legs an^ accidentally broken off, an imjiortant 

 character to which I have i-eferred in the systematic ])or- 

 tion of this book as (>xistiug in the claws of the foi'c feet, 

 is naturnlly uiiavailabl<\ In capturing them, therefore, 

 they must not be handled, and I have found the most sat- 

 isfactory method of capture to consist in simid}' ]>lacing 

 a small, open-mouthed vial over the mos(piit<» while at 



220 



