362 CHAPTER L. 



animalcules which are in their turn devoured by the 

 Mosquito. 



It is said that a spider will starve rather than 

 eat a mosquito. Perhaps he fears the malarial 

 infection ! 



It is the female Mosquitos that treat us so badly. 

 The male is a harmless and well-behaved insect, which 

 never thinks of biting anybody : he is in fact so very 

 abstemious that he eats nothing at all. No ritualist 

 could fast more rigorously : his life is one long 

 Kamadan. 



If the note produced by the wings of the 

 Mosquito is imitated, the insects of the other sex will 

 flock to the spot. This note, familiar enough to us, 

 but much less attractive, alters under certain circum- 

 stances. If you light a pastille, the Mosquitos, fleeing 

 from the fumes, buzz about close to the ceiling. As 

 soon as ever the pungent odour reaches them, the note 

 made by their wings rises to a higher pitch, as if, 

 rendered desperate by the smell, they were increasing 

 the rapidity of their flight. 



Those who take a special interest in Mosquitos 

 should visit the Etang des Pesquiers at Hyeres. If the 

 supply of these insects ever ran short on the Riviera, 

 this extraordinary sea-girt swamp could furnish as 

 many myriads as might be required. 



