58 NOTES ON A MALA.KIA-CARRYIN(i MOSQUITO 



size of a man's head to the human body. I caught a male 

 Anopheles lately which looked sickly. He had good reason. 

 Three ticks were boring into his neck, another on his chest, a 

 fifth just below the insertion of the wing, and a sixth was 

 affixed to the last segment of the abdomen. Here is a photo, of 

 the last one. In colour they are of a warm orange approaching 

 to red ; possess six jointed legs, the body being oval, measuring 

 one hundredth of an inch in diameter and a little more in length. 



Two more slides will complete our subject. The Anopheles 

 male and female. The gentleman comes first, Fig. 23, because 

 he is an innocent and good-hearted fellow. He never soils his 

 lancets with blood. By nature and practice he is a strict 

 vegetarian. The juices of fruit and the nectar of flowers are 

 his banquet. Now then for his missus, Fig. 24. Could he only 

 persuade his wife to follow his example we would not grumble- 

 But the missus has a strong will of her own, and prefers the 

 ruby wine of blood. 



Professor Celli states that the Anopheles do not make the 

 humming sound so characteristic of the ordinary Culex, and 

 persons may be bitten unconscious that they are near. Perhaps, 

 like the little black bush mosquito, they go straight to business 

 without hovering around. Those that I have kept in captivity 

 make as much noise as the ordinary variety. The sound is 

 more shrill, and reminds me of nothing so much as the skirl of 

 the Scottish bagpipes at a distance. 



During the day they are quiet, sometimes they will stand 

 in one place for hours together. At the approach of sunset they 

 become active, singing and Hying continuously, as if that was 

 their particular time for work and they were determined to make 

 the most of it. 



