ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF ONTARIO. 47 



«.ft'ect(Hl l)y the poison that he had to be sent home. I have noticed that the poison 

 affected persons dilFerently, causing severe swelling in some, fev^er in others, pains in the 

 limbs in others, vhile some were but slightly annoyed. I was myself very little troubled 

 by these pests." Along with that we may place the report given by a German professor, 

 of a Mexican doctor who was attending a lady suffering from inflammation of the brain. 

 She had been unconscious for twelve hours, and gave signs of approaching dissolution. 

 The doctor removed the mosquito net and opened the windows, giving the mosquitoes free 

 access to his patient for two hours, when consciousness returned and the lady given up 

 for lost started on the way to recovery, which is ([uite a likely tiling, as blood-letting would 

 be an excellent method for relieving the congested parts. 



We frequently read in the newspapers of people suffering from alarming soras, the 

 result of " a mosquito bite," some of them ending fatally. Thoughtless persons, or those 

 ignorant of the nature of mosquito bites, will persist in rubbing the bitten parts, which 

 <jnly tends to increase the irritation and calls for more rubbing. This, continued, may 

 break the skin, blood-poisoning may then ensue, and, if combined with an unhealthy 

 condition of the system, death may quite likely be the result. I have seen children 

 whose bodies were covered with sores caused by their scratching the mosquito bites. 



To those who have not lived in a mosquito infested-district, and have formed their 

 opinions by reading such reports ; it might seem to them that life in such a place would 

 be constant misery, and would expect to find the inhabitants covered with sores and 

 bandages ; but such is not the case. There is unquestionably a kind of inoculation that 

 takes place in those much exposed to the attack, which gives them immunity from any in- 

 convenience after the bite is given. The writer of the article " Mosquito," in the Enajclo- 

 pcedia Britant.ica, says : " Even in Britain the annoyances caused by the gnats — " cuUx 

 pipietis " — is very great, and in marshy districts often unendurable, especially to new 

 comers, for it seems probable that the insects really attack a visitor more furiously than 

 they do the natives of the district, but, on the other hand, the latter may be more in 

 different to their assaults." Now, we cannot suppose that the mosquitoes prefer a stranger 

 to a native, or that the native does not feel the bite. It is the consequences that make 

 the difference ; the visitor dreads these, the native does not, as there are none to him, he 

 having been thoroughly inoculated ; the bites may be felt equally by both, although there 

 are some endowed with a greater amount of pachydermatous insensibility than others. It 

 is undoubtedly new-comers to an affected district that suffer the worst, that is, if they 

 have not previously been subjected to the attack. Usually a bite on such a one raises a 

 spot about the diameter of half a pea, hard and whiter than the rest of the skin, with a 

 distinct red dot in the centre, producing an immense desire to rub the spot, which, if in- 

 dulged, causes various degrees of inflammation and redness, with an increased inclination 

 to rub, lasting for two or three hours with some, but twenty-four or more with others. 

 This sort of thing may have to be endured for the whole of the first summer. After 

 that the bite may be felt just as sharp as before, but no such after discomfort will follow. 

 Hence the apparent indifference of the native, but sufficient numbers would make even 

 him quail before their assault, but, being once clear of them, no further inconvenience 

 is felt by him. This kind of inoculation is vividly illustrated in the case of children going 

 into an infested locality to live ; for the first season every bite leaves its mark conspiou- 

 ous, but afterwards bites show no more than if they had not been given. 



How long the mosquito lives in the mature state, is not known with any degree of cer- 

 tainty. Dr. C. V. Riley says : " So far as we know, our northern mosquitoes pass the 

 winter in the imago state, but in limited numbers." Supposing these hibernators are the 

 parents of the summer crop, they might in this latitude begin depositing their eggs — of 

 which they lay about 300 — in the beginning of May, and allowing a month between egg 

 and imago, we see that by midsummer the number, under favorable circumstances, would 

 be great. But the question to settle is, how long does the female live in summer before 

 depositing her eggs 1 for we cannot suppose that, contrary to the nature of other insects 

 she lives long afterwards ; unless she does not lay them all at onca. When one visits a 

 piece of woods situated a long way from stagnant water every few days, and finds an ua- 



