324 Fiftieth Report ox the State Museum 



While in some, only a slight and brief irritation follows the bite, in 

 others, the well-known itching sensation becomes intense, and is accom- 

 panied with serious inflammation and swelling which may be continued for 

 several days. Again, the resultant effect of the bite often depends upon 

 the general condition of the system at the time, and upon the particular 

 portion of the person where it is received. I do not know of any fatal 

 result attending the bite of a single mosquito, but we have a well-authen- 

 ticated instance where death ensued as the consequence of the stmg of a 

 hornet inflicted in the scalp of a bald head. 



When the occasional mosquito, which we find a trial, is multiplied a 

 thousand-fold, the wounds against which the victim is powerless to 

 defend himself, become a most serious matter. The swollen hands 

 almost lose their service ; the bloated face scarce admits of recognition. 

 Mortification of the limbs has ensued, rendering amputation necessary, 

 and cases are recorded where death has resulted. Professor Jeager 

 relates that on one occasion when traveling on the banks of a river in 

 Russia, his servant was driven to such a degree of madness by his suffer- 

 ings from the dense cloud of mosquitoes in which they were enveloped, 

 that he was only prevented from shooting himself as an escape from his 

 misery, through the united strength of two athletic Cossacks. 



The severe stinging sensation and subsequent inflammation and itching 

 of the bite, is owing to a poisonous fluid injected into the wound through 

 the proboscis at the time of its insertion to aftect the blood and cause it 

 to flow more readily. This opinion, advanced by Reaumur long ago, 

 was for a long time held as probable. Very recently, however, it has 

 been verified, by Dr. Macloskie, of Princeton College, New Jersey, in 

 the discovery of two poison-glands, the duct through which it is conveyed 

 into the hypopharynx and the escape of the fluid, in oily globules from 

 an aperture near the tip of that organ which is subapical like that in the 

 rattlesnake's fang, so as not to weaken or impair the delicacy of its point. 



Of the effects of this poison, and the reason for believing in its existence 

 before it had been demonstrated. Dr. Dimmock, has written as follows: 

 " After having experimented a large number of times with the living 

 mosquito, I am convinced that there is use made of a poisonous saliva ; 

 for, when biting, if the mosquito fails to strike blood, which it often does 

 on parts of the back of my hand, although it may have inserted its 

 proboscis, nearly full length, in from one to six directions in the same and 

 withdrawn it, yet, in such cases, if no blood be drawn, no more effect is 

 produced upon my skin than is produced by the prick of a sharp needle 

 — a red point appears only to disappear in a few hours. Certainly there 



