30 Mosquitoes 



corpse, is reported by Dr. Cuthbert Christy as follows: 



" On one occasion in Nigeria I proceeded to a hut in 

 order to make a post-mortem examination upon the body 

 of a white, non-commissioned officer who had died from 

 black-water fever three and one-half hours previously. 

 On lifting the corner of a mackintosh sheet which had 

 been laid over the body, I was surprised to see a cloud 

 of mosquitoes issue from beneath it. The sheet was 

 replaced, leaving the shoulder and neck slightly uncov- 

 ered as before, and in a few minutes a number of large 

 brown Anopheles were probing the corpse in their char- 

 acteristic attitudes." 



This being the case, any one can easily see that 

 there is no telling how much harm might be done by 

 permitting mosquitoes free access to corpses, espe- 

 cially those dying of fevers the method of transmis- 

 sion of which is unknown. 



Do Males Bite ? — The only reason that a male 

 mosquito does not bite is not that he does not want 

 to, but that he cannot. The majority will drink fresh 

 blood if it is offered to them, but in most species the 

 mouth-parts are not sufficiently developed to pierce 

 the skin. There are, however, a few recorded instan- 

 ces where they have really probed to blood, although 

 most people believe that they do not do so, and the 

 question has been much discussed. Dr. Stiles, of the 

 U. S. Marine Hospital Service, told me that he was, 

 while out in a row-boat at Leipsic, actually bitten by 

 a male of C. nemoralis. The males of C. salinits 1 as 

 well as those of certain species (not given) of Stego- 



1 Ficalbi. 



