Some Habits of the Adults 33 



ages, but Dr. Schwarz accuses them of drinking 

 lager beer. Mosquitoes also like fresh manure, not 

 being any more fastidious than are the house flies. 

 I have often noticed both sexes in the day-lilies ; 

 they may have gone in for nectar, or simply to hide. 

 Dr. Smith records what was probably O. sollicitans, 

 both males and females, digging into wild-cherry 

 blossoms. 



Dr. Goeldi speaks of the males, indoors, helping 

 themselves to coffee, tea, wine, and broth from the 

 teacups, saucers, and plates on the tables, but, as a 

 rule, abstaining from blood-sucking. The females 

 also have these habits to a certain degree. 



He then made some experiments to illustrate the 

 differing tastes of the sexes. Out of thirty-seven 

 mosquitoes captured in a sugar bowl there were one 

 female and one male of 6". calopus, two females and 

 thirty-three males of C. fatigans. On the contrary, 

 in the bedroom, along in the night, he noticed a 

 great number of mosquitoes dancing up and down 

 outside of the mosquito bar, close to his face, trying 

 to find a way in. Suddenly slapping, he crushed a 

 number against the wall. They proved to be twenty- 

 three Culex females. 



Dr. Goeldi puts forth an interesting hypothesis as 

 to how the blood-sucking habit is formed and why 

 it is restricted almost entirely to the females. He 

 calls attention to the fact that any cuts or wounds, 

 especially in the tropics, are often seen to be attacked 

 by small flies and like insects, which sip the serum, 

 — a slightly sweet substance. Also, the corners of 

 animals' eyes in warm seasons are attacked by 



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