and Laboratory .Methods. 1465 



CURRENT ZOOLOGICAL LITERATURE. 



Chakt.f.s a. KoFonx 



Books and separates cf papeis on zoSo^cal snbfects shoold he sent for review to 

 Chailes A. Kolrad. Univeisty of Califcxnia, Beikeief , Cafifomia. 



Ho'aard. L. 0. Mosqidtoes. 241 Rit, irith 50 The popular interest in mosquitoes, 

 fc- r :-r reit. New York, igoi. McChue. - _^ ^^ ,^i_ j- £ ^v - 



r- -; Co $1 -o growing out of the discovery ot theur 



agenqf in causing malaria and yellow 



fever, makes this book of Dr. Howard's very timely. The author describes the 



life history, the feeding, breeding, and liiring habits, and the transformations of 



mosquitoes. The method by which malaria, yellow fever, and filariasis are 



transmitted to man, and the species concerned in this process, are careful^ 



described. American mosquitoes are also discussed, and a key to all of the 



known species is given. Su^estions are giving for breeding and rearing the 



lar\'2e, and directions for collecting and preserving specimens for examination 



and for museum piuposes are detailed. Means of extermination of these pests, 



and the precautions necessary to prevent the spread <rf disease by them, are 



given in the light of recent experiments. This book should find its way into 



every high-school library, and will be of value to physicians and travellers. 



Chapter IX, •' How to Collect and Preserve Mosquitoes." :s reprinted herewith 



by courtesy of the publishers. c a. k. 



•Adult mosc - :: : es are very fragile creatures. The scales upon their bodies and 

 legs are easily rubbed ott, and the antennae, and especially the l^s, 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 appearance from one which has just emerged from the pupa. Practically, 

 they cannot be handled with the fingers, or their value as cabinet specimens or as 

 specimens for study is lost. With some forms there are important characters in 

 the arrangement of the scales on the thorax. With others the scales on the wing 

 are of importance, and if the front legs are accidentally broken off, an important 

 character to which I have referred in the systematic portion of this book as exist- 

 ing in the claws of the fore feet, is naturally unavailable. In capturing them, 

 therefore, they must not be handled, and I have found the most satisfactory 

 method of capture to consist in simpiy placing a small, open-mouthed vial over 

 the mosquito while at rest. On the wing, it cannot be caught, even with a deli- 

 cate net. without rubbing or 1^-breaking. If a mosquito lights upon your hand, 

 or upon a twig, or a leaf, or upon a wall of a room, it is quite easy, especially if 

 it be engaged in sucking blood, to cover it adroitly with the vial. It rises almost 

 instantly, and the mouth of the vial is plugged with a plug of absorbent cotton. 

 A drop of chloroform on the cotton will stupefy the specimen almost immediately. 

 and another drop will kill it. 



The specimen may be kept permanently in the vial, and when studied, if the 

 study goes no further than an examination of the coarser characters. In an 

 anempt to determine the species, it will often suffice gently to slide it out upon 

 a sheet of white paper and examine it with a powerful hand-lens. With the one- 

 quarter inch achromatic triplet lens, made by different firms, I have found it 

 possible to distinguish all of the generic and specific characters, even down to the 

 teeth of the tarsal claws. This, however, is difficult to persons not accustomed 



