52 NOTES ON A MALARIA CARRYINO MOSQrilTO 



form. Below are seen the beautiful feathery antenn* so 

 characteristic of the male sex. Many of you are aware that 

 these are musical insl;ruments, made and pitched to receivo the 

 notes of the female's song. She is the player, he the instrument 

 upon which she plays, a relation not exclusively confined to the 

 mosquito family. 



The palpi are supposed to be organs of touch, but the insect 

 does not appear to use them for that purpose. The organ of 

 touch is the proboscis, the fleshy tube in which the lancets lie. 

 The tip of this organ is deeply cleft, so as to form two fleshy 

 lobes bearing hairs which are probably tactile. I have seen it 

 pass over fruit, and up and down the ridges on the skin 

 of my hand apparently seeking for a suitable place wherein to 

 bore. 



Very exaggerated statements are heard about the piercing 

 capabilities of the lancets. My own experience goes as far as 

 this : I have gone into their haunts with soft chamois leather 

 gloves, such as housemaids use, on my hands, and they have 

 pierced through these into my hands. The female possesses six 

 lancets, these are so constructed that they all fit together like 

 one weapon. The lingua or tongue is the largest and takes the 

 form of a long hollow tube, the end sloping down to a sharp 

 point. Around this the other lancets are grouped, these are too 

 slender and delicate to be used separately, and fit closely around 

 the stronger barrel of the tongue. Two of these lancets, the 

 maxilla', however, are barbed for a short distance from the tips 

 on their exposed sides. Here is a highly magnified representa- 

 tion of one : a dozen teeth fine at the tip and then gradually 

 enlarging are clearly visible. This constitutes a neat double 

 surgical saw, not meant for cutting bone but flesh. These two 

 barbed lancets are longer than the rest and project backwards 

 into the bead where they terminate in a sort of hammer head. 

 In this photo, Fig. 16, you see how they project backwards 

 beyond the rest. To the ends of this cross hammer, strong 

 muscles are attached, and by them these two special lancets 

 can be pulled up and down, sliding over the tongue which acts 

 as a guide. So they are used to enlarge the original puncture and 

 cause a freer flow of blood for the tubular tongue to suck. It is 

 a peculiar and interesting provision for the insect's welfare. If 

 the hypodermic needle of the principal lancet were simply thrust 

 into the skin, unless it pierced a blood-vessel, little blood would 

 flow, for the flesh would close round the sloping aperture and 

 choke it up. But by the action of these little perpendicular saws 



