BY W. R. COLLKD(tE. 121 



The wing is a clear strong transparent organ traversed by 

 hollow ribs, which render it very light and strong. These ribs 

 too, serve a double purpose, they not only strengthen the wing, 

 but carry air, so that they are really an extension of the tracheal 

 system. They are in the ordinary species even down to their 

 minute branches covered with beautiful scales. The edge is 

 fringed with various-sized scale?, the deepest being found on the 

 lower parts. We have (in tig. 6) a little morsel of the edge ; of 

 course it is very highly magnified. You see the terminal rib at 

 the top, like a beam of wood. The stems of the scales are 

 inserted at regular intervals, and hang down like a deep fringe. 

 They are not unlike the short broadsword used by some eastern 

 nations in warfare. For purposes of strength, the scales are 

 also ribbed longitudinally from base to point. The whole of the 

 body, legs, and proboscis are likewise covered with scales, and 

 these are of various shapes. Some are curved like a canoe, 

 others like battledores, some like cricket bats ; all have the 

 pecularity of being strengthened by ribs, just as the plumber 

 ribs sheets of iron to make them more rigid for the walls of 

 tanks, or roofs of houses. Likewise they are arranged in regular 

 order, just as tiles or shingles are placed on the roof of a house, 

 the base of one overlapping the top of the next, and so on in 

 regular succession. An exception to this order is found in the 

 head. At the back of the heal are scales, in shape like an 

 American broom, and composed of a long slender shank, and a 

 fan-like head. These are set upright, the fan pointing into the 

 air. So they reseaible a Reil Indiau dressed in his war-paint 

 and feathers. 



The mosquitoe's chest is remarkably deep and broad, being 

 built to accoaiodate the powerful muscles connected with the 

 wings and legs. So powerful are these that the wings have been 

 calculated to move 50 times a second, or 3000 times in a minute. 

 Any athlete or footballer might be proud if he possessed muscles 

 built on a corresponding scale. Each single muscle would 

 probably bs as thick as a person's arm, and the combination so 

 irresistable that he might almost kick the football into the 

 adjoining colony. 



Now I suppose you are wishfal for me to say something 

 about the apparatus used by this insect when sucking the blood 

 of his victims. I must tell you that it is believed, in scientific 



