BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 129 



One useful work they fulfil in their larval stage is that of 

 scavengers. I kept a numerous family in a large glass jar. To 

 keep them from drowning after they assumed the flying stage, I 

 put the branch of a tree in so that they might have something 

 to rest upon. By-and-bye, some of the leaves decayed and 

 dropped into the water. Very soon the pulp of the leaves 

 disappeared, and there were only left the ribs looking like a 

 network of lace. The fact was that the young skeeters, 

 skirmishing around, found them to be good eating. And I 

 often saw them engaged in sucking the decaying leaves. They 

 are not strict vegetarians either. One night, a big black beetle, 

 who was out on a marauding expedition, had the misfortune to 

 tumble into my mosquito-tank and was drowned. I allowed 

 him to remain, te see if they would tackle him too, and I found 

 they did. As he decayed, and smelt high, they gathered round 

 him with gusto. He served large families with tit-bits for 

 days, and they left him when only the shell and hard wing 

 cases were to be seen. By thus disposing of a large portion of 

 decomposing animal and vegetable matter in swamps and pools, 

 they help to purify the water, and do the world service in that 

 way. 



Likewise they serve as food for fish. I put both larra and 

 jnipa into a tank beside a small fish. As soon as they were 

 perceived, he went for them at once, and whenever the fancy 

 took him he bolted a few more, so that soon there was not one 

 left in the tank. Serving as food for fish, we in our turn catch 

 them, and find that mosquitoes, transformed into the flesh of 

 fish, are not bad for humankind. 



It has been asserted that mosquitoes only live one day. 



That is not correct, for I have kept them much longer. The 



full-grown female that you saw was confined in a cell not much 



larger than sixpence. And she lived there for a week. And on 



one occasion, when I awoke in the morning, I saw a lady in 



the curtains of my bed. She was very stout, having filled 



herself with as much of my blood as she could stow away 



during the night. I put her into a good-sized vase, with a iittle 



water to slake her thirst. It was quite a week before she 



digested the good meal she had had, and resumed her natural 



shape. To test this point of age I kept her in prison for 21 



days. How much longer she might have remained alive I 

 I 



