LIFE HISTORY AND SEASONAL PREVALENCE 



128 



The attitude of the females in depositing their eggs is 

 peculiar. Thanks to the air entangled in the pulvilli, with 

 which the feet are provided, they can rest on the surface 

 of still water, as easily as upon dry ground, and are able to 

 alight upon or take flight from its surface at will. When 

 they have settled themselves in this way on the surface of 



csi:s» 



Fig. 29. —Various forms of Mosquito Eggs. — (1) Egg-boat of Culex, seen 

 from above ; (2) the same, side view (after Sambon) ; (.3) separate Culex eggs ; 

 (4) eggs of Panoplites (after Daniels) ; (5) eggs of Stcgomyia ; (6) the same 

 more highly magnified (after Theobald) ; (7) groups of Anopheles eggs, as 

 they float on the water (after Sambon) ; (8) egg of Anopheles maculipennis, 

 showing lateral floats, seen from above, x 30 diams. ; (9) the same, viewed 

 laterally, (after Nuttall). 



the water chosen for the purpose, they spread out the 

 four anterior legs as a support, while the posterior legs 

 are crossed behind them so as to form an acute angle, and 

 it is into this angle that the eggs are dropped side by side, 

 until an elongated, boat-shaped mass is formed, somewhat 

 raised at each extremity. The hind legs which carry them 

 are extended little by little until the boat is finished, when 



