142 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES— CHAPTER VII 



water rarely freezes during the vvinter, this expedient may 

 be assisted b}^ the survival of larvae also, as we have seen 

 is the case with certainly some species of Anopheles, and 

 in that genus also, at least in India, it is not the females 

 alone, but the surviving members of both sexes that seclude 

 themselves in this way, for towards the end of the season 

 of activity, males are to be met with in houses, in far 

 larger numbers than their spouses, and are obviously sinking 

 into the same lethargic state. Mosquitoes, when hyber- 

 nating, creep into any hiding place that will afford warmth 

 and darkness, and prefer to utilise for the purpose narrow 

 crevices, into which one would hardly expect so delicate a 

 winged insect to creep. 



When in this state they are extremely sluggish, and 

 may often be found stationary in the same place for long 

 periods, without having, to all appearance, moved for days 

 together; and provided one can find them, it is naturally 

 not ditticult to catch them ; but they nevertheless retain 

 sutticient strength and alertness to escape from careless or 

 clumsy attempts to capture them, though, with such excep- 

 tions, they neither feed nor perform any of the other active 

 functions of life. All Mosquitoes are greatly affected by cold, 

 and refuse to move or feed on a cold morning, even on their 

 more habitual vegetable food, while the most troublesome 

 species never attack animals, except in warm weather, so 

 that although a couple of species are fairly common in 

 houses throughout the cold weather in Oudh, Mosquito 

 curtains can be safely laid aside. 



It is only during the times of the year that they are 

 actively breeding that Mosquitoes attack animals, and the 

 habit is probably indulged in to supply the large amount of 

 nourishment required to supply material for the relatively 

 enormous bulk of eggs laid by them. Many species are, it 

 seems likely, unable to mature their eggs without having 

 first obtained a feed of blood. In Southern India, and 

 doubtless in similar climates elsewhere, it is never cold 

 enough to drive Mosquitoes into hybernation, and in places 

 within the equatorial belt of uniform climatic conditions, 

 the heat is rarely so extreme, or drought so prolonged, as to 



