BY W. R. COLLEDGE, 125 



representing all the lancets of one thickness. The photographic 

 lens, if rightly used, give a truthful rendering of their 

 dimensions. 



The male has no mandibles, and the maxilloe are not barbed 

 at the tips like those of the female. Their mode of using their 

 weapons is after this fashion : — After alighting in so fairy-like a 

 manner on the skin that one is scarcely conscious of the touch, 

 she tries various places with the soft tip of the proboscis before 

 finally fixing on a spot wherein to bore. We speak of a 

 mosquito bite, but it is not really a bite ; it is a thrust or stab. 

 Having decided where to bore, she plants her proboscis firmly 

 down. The lancets, firmly held together, in one group, are 

 pushed steadily into the skin. The sheath, elbowing itself, is drawn 

 back, allowing them to sink nearly in to their full length. After 

 being satisfied, the lancets are slowly withdrawn, and the bent 

 sheath straighten out to receive them. It is quite easy to trap 

 the mosquite that operates on the back of your hand. Before 

 she has quite done sucking, gently close your fingers until the 

 hand is clenched tightly, and the skin on the back, being thus 

 drawn tight, it will grip the lancet points, and the insect, 

 unable to free itself, will be held tightly by the nose. The 

 withdrawal of the blood is effected by the largest lancet, the one 

 most visible on the picture. It is a hollow tube. While 

 working on it under the microscope I have, by gentle pressures 

 here and there, forced liquid that has been in it up and down, 

 clearly proving its tubularity. It is curved, and the end slopes to 

 a point. The old saying that there is nothing new under the 

 sun is exemplified here, for the sloping point and barrel of the 

 hypodermic needle used by doctors to inject medicines under the 

 skin is a mere imitation of the mosquitoes' principal lancet. 

 Long before the hypodermic system was invented by medical 

 men, she practised it successfully every day, but no monument 

 has yet been erected in her honour. 



It has been a disputed question, whether the irritation 

 arising from the puncture is caused by the simple injury of 

 boring, or by the injection of a poisonovis fluid ; but that point 

 is now decided. For, lately, the mosquito has been receiving a 

 large amount of attention from scientific men and its anatomy 

 has become more perfectly understood. The poison and salivary 

 glands unknown before, have been found. They are exceedingly 



