REPORT ON MOSQUITOES. 29 



the latter will have to be absorbed by the human system and the 

 disintegrated blood mass with it. This is the basis of fact 

 behind the popular belief that a bite does not hurt if you allow 

 a mosquito tO' complete its meal and withdraw the lancets nat- 

 urally. 



Susceptibility to mosquito poisoning varies enormously. Some 

 persons do not even notice mosquitoes biting under ordinary 

 conditions, though they may be honestly unaware of their ex- 

 emption. I remember enjoying a drive with a man who told me 

 of his sufferings from mosquito bites, while a specimen was 

 deliberately filling itself from his lower lip, not in the least 

 disturbed by the talk. Mr. Brehme does not notice marsh mo- 

 squito attacks at all ; but he bolts green head flies. Mr. Brakeley 

 captures pertiirhans by looking at his ankles occasionally and 

 bottling any specimens he may see there. It is only when he sees 

 them that he knows they are present and yet pertiirhans is a 

 hard biter ! 



On the other hand, I have met many persons to whom even 

 a single bite was a torture and who were in positive agony during 

 a stay along shore. In such persons puffy swellings appear and 

 cover an area an inch or more in diameter from a single bite. 

 When bites are at all numerous the suffering is intense and the 

 appearance pitiable. Between these extremes all intergrades are 

 found; but I have never found a man yet, who, in a mosquito 

 region, had not at times been driven out by mosquitoes. 



Personally the insects bother me, but the pain is usually tem- 

 porary and^ if I refrain from scratching, a matter of a few min- 

 utes only. And this brings up the matter of species ; for a man 

 may be exempt as against one species and not another. Boatmen 

 and others along shore, who never know whether mosquitoes are 

 present in their own territory, suffer severely and swear loudly 

 when they get within range of the inland mosquitoes; and the 

 contrary is equally true. 



Nowadays I scarcely mind soUicitans at all. and cant at or does 

 not worry me much. C. pipiens is more troublesome and its 

 bites sometimes cause distinct swellings ; but I can sleep through 

 any attack save that of Anopheles. This has a different song 

 and a different manner of attack, and somehow I do not feel at 

 ease near it. I will awaken at any time to a specimen buzzing 

 about, where I would not mind any species of Culex. These are, 

 of course, personal characteristics and may not apply to any other 

 individual. The case is cited merely to show that there is a 

 difference between the virus of the species and between the 

 susceptibility oi individuals. 



