Some Habits of the Adults 35 



defecation, and, by the next night, she is ready to 

 bite again. 



Drs. Dupree and Goeldi both note that with a 

 number of species the female will bite before mating. 



The latter further observes that while blood accel- 

 erates oviposition, honey and other sweet vegetable 

 diet has an opposite or, at least, a neutral influence 

 upon reproduction. He and Dr. Dupree have both 

 observed that, with some mosquitoes in captivity, 

 deposition of ova may be accelerated or suppressed, 

 and life thus prolonged, by giving or denying blood 

 as food. But while Goeldi's conclusion from this 

 observation, that blood is an indispensable factor for 

 the production of fertile eggs, may be true for many 

 species, it does not hold true with all, for at Baton 

 Rouge M. atratus and C. tcrritans could never be 

 induced to bite, and I can find no record that any 

 one else has ever observed them to do so. Both 

 males and females of these two species when cap- 

 tured were often full of a clear, greenish fluid, and 

 some of these females laid productive eggs. But 

 Dr. Dupree never had any other species deposit 

 either fertile or unfertile ova without biting at least 

 once. 



Parthenogenesis. — There are few observations 

 on this point. Unfertilised females of 5. calopus 

 have at times been known to oviposit, land2 this being 

 also the case with C. pipicns. 1 The eggs, however, 

 were never fertile. 



Poisoning from Bites. — Some people appear to 

 be less attacked by mosquitoes than are others. 



1 Dupree. 2 Goeldi. 



