332 Fiftieth Report on the State Museum 



presence, under suitable conditions, produce the painful, loathsome, and 

 often fatal disease of elephantiasis. (See Science, for May i8, 1883, i, 

 pp. 419-420, for an extended notice and illustration.) 



The Mosquito Perhaps One of the Ten Plagues of Egypt. 



Professor Westvvood, of London, an eminent entomologist, and the 

 author of a volume on insects of such exceeding value that it is known 

 as " The Entomologist's Bible," has endeavored to show that the mos- 

 quito was the insect that composed the " swarms of flies " that were 

 sent upon Pharaoh and his i)eople as one of the ten plagues of Egypt. 

 In evidence of this, he cites the expression " swarms of flies," and 

 remarks: "We are sure that every one who has seen a swarm of gnats at 

 eventide, will perceive the aptness of the expression, supposing the 

 Egyptian fly to be a species of gnat, or in other words, the mosquito. 

 We next read of their making their way into the houses, which shall be 

 full of flies. This is also precisely the habits of the Culiciday The 

 distinguished Doctor of Science (like an eminent Doctor of Divinity of 

 our own city), evidendy favors "a reduction of the miraculous in the 

 Bible to the minimum," and a non-resort to a miraculous interpretation 

 of such phenomena as may be explained by natural causes ; fur he finds 

 the fullest corroboration of his view of the mosquito being the plague 

 insect, in the fact that the land of Goshen, in which the people ot Israel 

 dwelt, was to be exempt from the swarrns of flies that invaded the land 

 of the Egyptians. The latter, he remarks, was subject to a periodical 

 overflow of the Nile — a condition most favorable to the production of 

 mosquitoes; while the land of Goshen, was not overflowed and was a 

 sandy soil entirely unsuited to the mosquito, and even at the present 

 time, a favorite place of refuge for cattle from its attack. 



Others, who have written of this plague, entertain different views — 

 among which, Rev, Mr. Kirby, finds strong evidence of its having con- 

 sisted of cockroaches. Opinions might differ as to which would be the 

 greater plague. 



Eggs of the Mosquito. 



The transformations of the mosquito, to which we now pass, are of 

 much interest, as I hope to be able to show you. 



While the eggs of a large proportion of our insects, either from their 

 form, color-markings, sculpture, or manner of deposit, offer many 

 attractive features, those of the mosquito possess special and unusual 

 interest from the singular disposition made of them. 



