158 Mosquitoes 



Theexperimentsat Baton Rouge demonstrated that 

 the first batch is generally extruded from eight to ten 

 days after the first food has been taken, and that the 

 average number of batches is three, of from fourteen 

 to one hundred and fifteen eggs each, but often there 

 are as many as seven batches, with sometimes some 

 containing up to one hundred and thirty ova. One 

 individual is able to lay as many as six hundred and 

 fourteen eggs altogether in seven batches, over a 

 period of thirty-five days, feeding nine times. The 

 interval between the ovulations is four to seven days, 

 with an average of five. Unlike the Jersey form, 

 which is said by Dr. Smith to require drying, or at 

 least twenty-four hours without being water-covered, 

 as a prerequisite to hatching, the Southern form, even 

 if underwater from the first, would hatch if agitated 

 after a few days. All the larvae do not emerge at once, 

 nor is agitation necessary, for if leftto themselves they 

 will come outafter one hundred andfifteentoonehun- 

 dred and forty-five days, the time of hatching extend- 

 ing over several days. The larval stage is about eight 

 days, the pupal three to six. The adults at Baton 

 Rouge were found from March 2 to December 3; in 

 New Jersey, from late April or early May until late 

 October. 



When the tides or. rains cover the eggs, the larvae 

 come in an incredibly short time, though all the larvae 

 of the same batch do not appear at the first wetting, 

 a good thing for the preservation of the species in 

 case the first overflow does not last long enough to 

 permit maturity. Dr. Smith states that the wigglers 

 thrive either in fresh or in salt water at the edge of 



