MOSQUITOES 



the female goes to the nearest collection of stagnant 

 water and lays her first batch of eggs. On the advent 

 of winter the great majority of mosquitoes die, but a 

 sufficient number to carry on the race survive in dark, 

 warm crevices, caves, cupboards, and other sheltered 

 places. The female mosquito possesses a most efficient 

 apparatus for piercing the skin of its host and drawing 

 out its blood, on which it lives. The instrument is a 

 pointed proboscis which serves the double purpose of 

 piercing the skin and sucking up the blood. When 

 this sharp instrument is thrust into the tissues of the 

 mosquito's victim, and a droplet of saliva is injected 

 into the bottom of the wound for the purpose of 

 causing the blood to flow more freely, it is the 

 irritation of this saliva which causes itching and 

 redness in the human subject. 



In the male mosquito the proboscis is comparatively 

 short, and is not in other ways adapted for piercing 

 the skin of an animal or man. The males feed on the 

 juices of plants, as do the females when blood is un- 

 obtainable. They prefer blood, however, to any other 

 kind of food. 



Apart from mosquitoes being an annoying, biting, 

 sleep-dispelling pest, they inoculate men, animals, and 

 birds with virulent diseases. The mosquito is the 

 agent which spreads malaria and yellow fever. The 

 female mosquito sucks the germ or parasite laden 

 blood of a sick man or beast. These disease-producing 

 parasites accumulate in the saliva of the mosquito, 

 and when it punctures the skin of its host, it injects a 

 droplet of this infected saliva. The parasites soon find 



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