tor 



MOSQUITO. 



MOSQUITO. 



Aniitia. He add* that it can be Matty trained, when taken young, 

 and will become quite familiar. 



Nspu (Trogulut Jataiiieut). 



Dr. Gray refers also to this genus Motchui Kanchil (Javan Musk of 

 Shaw, Le Chevrotain de Java of Buffon) ; J/. fulrinulcr (Le jeuue 

 Chcvrotein of Buffon) ; and J/. Stanleyanui, of which last, in 1836, 

 there were four living specimen* in the magnificent collection of the 

 Earl of Derby at Knowsley ; and two others, consisting of a specimen 

 of each of the varieties, in that of the Zoological Society of London, 

 the gift of her present Majesty. With the exception of the last, 

 whose locality is not known, these are Oriental, the Kanchil being 

 an inhabitant of Java, and the Trayuiu* fulrirtnter a native of the 

 Malacca Island* and the East Indian Peninsula, but the habitat of 

 T. ftUvitenier is given by Dr. Gray with a query. 



fottil Motchida. The following species are recorded : J/. an/ii/uia, 

 Kaup (Epplesbeim Sand) ; M, licnyaientia (Tertiary, north-east border 

 of Bengal, PenOand) ; 31. Prattii (Tertiary, Isle of Wight, Pratt). 

 Dr. Schinz also mentions the teeth of these ruminating animals as 

 occurring in the Tertiary Coal of Zurich ; of which, one, be says, is 

 scarcely larger than the teeth of the small musk ; the other belongs 

 to a species of deer. Remains of Motchtu are also mentioned by 

 Jager (Tertiary, lin Iron-ore (Bohnerz) of the Rauh Alp). 



MOSQUITO, a term applied to certain stinging Flies belonging in 

 all probability to several distinct genera. The mosquitoes are cither 

 gnat* or gnat-like insects, which are furnished with a proboscis 

 adapted for piercing the 8esh, and at the same time forming a kind 

 of siphon through which the blood flows ; this instrument moreover 

 injects into the wound which it makes a poison which cause* 

 inflammation. 



Many insects called Mosquitoes probnbly belong to the same tribe 

 as the Common Gnat (Cults, Linn.) ; Humboldt however asserts that 

 the insects known by that name in America belong to the genus 

 Siaulium, and that the Culica, which are equally numerous and 

 annoying, are called Zancudoes, which means long legs. The former 

 are what the French call Moustiques, and the hitter Cousins. 



The genus Simulium, according to Macquart ('Suites it Buffon; 

 Hist Nat des Inaectes Dipteres '), belongs to the family Tipularia 

 and section Tijiulariir-jtoralti, and is thus characterised : Fourth 

 joint of the palpi rather elongated and slender; antenna: cylindrical, 

 11 jointed; eyes round, ocelli wanting; basal joint of the tarsi as 

 long as the others taken together; wings very broad, basal and 

 marginal cells very narrow. 



M. Macquart. in his account of the habits of the species of this 

 genus, says, " They frequent the leaven of shrubs under trees, and 

 live upon the juice* found upon those leaves, especially such as are 

 produced by the plant-lice; they do not however confine themselves 

 to this kind of nourishment, but when opportunity offers, like gnats, 

 they suck the blood of animals, and produce an equally painful 

 wound. Their proboscis is much less complicated than that of the 

 gnaU, consisting, aa in other Tipularia;, merely of a labrum and 

 lingua ; these parts however are more developed than usual These 

 minute flies are constantly in motion, and in running apply the whole 

 sole of the anterior tarsus to the plane upon which they may be 

 moving; they moreover appear to use their fore legs as feelers. 



The following is an account of the structure of ('/ 

 the Mosquito of the Americans, t>y an American observer : 



' The male mosquito differs considerably, as is well known, from 

 the female; bis body being smaller and of a darker colour, and his 

 bead furnished with antenna; and palpi in a state of greater develop- 

 ment Notwithstanding the fitness of his organs for predatory 

 purposes be is timid, seldom entering dwellings or annoying man, 

 bat restricts himself to damp and foul places, especially sinks and 

 privies. The female, on the other hand, gives greater extension to 

 her tight, and, attacking our race, is the occasion of no incon- 



siderable disturbance and vexation during the summer and autumn 

 months. 



" The head of the male mosquito, about 0-67 mm. [millimetre*] 

 wide, is provided with lunate eyes, between which in front superiorly 

 are found two pyriform capsules nearly touching each other, and 

 having implanted into them the very remarkable antenna*. 



" The capsule, measuring about 0"21 mm., is composed of a homy 

 substance, and is attached posteriorly by its pedicle, while ante- 

 riorly it rest! upon a horuy ring, united with its fellow by a 

 transverse fenestrated band, and to which it is joined by a thin elastic 

 membrane. Externally it has a rounded form, but internally it 

 resembles a certain sort of lamp-shade with a constriction near its 

 middle ; and between this inner cup and outer globe there exists 

 a space, except at the bottom or proximal end, where both are 

 united. 



"The antenna; are of nearly equal length iu the mule and the 

 female. 



' In the male the antenna is about 175 mm. in length, and consists 

 of 14 joints, 12 short and nearly equal, and 2 long and equal, terminal 

 ones, the latter measuring together 070 mm. Each of the shorter 

 joints has a femestrated skeleton with an external investment, and 

 terminates simply posteriorly, but is encircled anteriorly with about 

 40 papilla: upon which are implanted long and stiff hairs, the proximal 

 sets being about 079 mm. and the distal ones 070 mm. in length ; and 

 it is beset with minute bristles in front of each whorl. 



" The two last joints have each a whorl of about 20 short hairs near 

 the base. 



"In the female the joints are nearly equal, number but 13, and have 

 each a whorl of about a dozen small hairs around the base. Here, as 

 well as in the male, the parts of the antenna! enjoy a limited motion 

 upon each other, except the basal joint, which, being fixed, moves 

 with the capsule upon which it is implanted. 



" The space between the inner and outer walls of the capsule, which 

 we term confidently the auditory capsule, is filled with a fluid of 

 moderate consistency, opalescent, and containing minute spherical 

 corpuscles, and which probably bears the same relation to the nerve 

 as does the lymph in the scaUc of the cochlea of higher animals. The 

 nerve itself of the antenna proceeds from the first or cerebral ganglion, 

 advances towards the pedicle of the capsule in company with the 

 large trachea which send," its ramifications throughout the entire 

 apparatus, and, penetrating the pedicle, its filaments divide into two 

 portions. The central threads continue forwards into the antenna 

 and are lost there ; the peripheral ones, on the contrary, radiate out- 

 wards in every direction, enter the capsular space, and are lodged for 

 more than half their length in sulci wrought in the inner wall or cup 

 of the capsule. 



" In the female the disposition of parts is observed to be nearly the 

 same, excepting that the capsule is smaller, and that the hut distal 

 antenna! joint is rudimental. 



" The proboscis does not differ materially in the two sexes ; but the 

 palpi, although consisting in both instances of the same number of 

 pieces are very unlike. In the female they are extremely short, but 

 in the male attain the length of 273 mm. ; while the proboscis 

 measures but 2'1G mui. They are curved upwards at the extremity. 



" If an organ of hearing, similar to that described by Trcviranus as 

 belonging to the lilalta orientalu, exist in the head of the Mosquito, 

 the tympanum must be of exquisitely minute proportions, because the 

 head, which has a diameter of only 0'07 mm., is almost entirely occu- 

 pied by the cornea! plaques, the capsules, and the attachments of the 

 neck and of the buccal apparatus. The membrana tympani must 

 therefore be BO small as to preclude the idea of its being put in 

 vibration by any sounds other than those infinitely more acute thau 

 are produced by the insect itself, and the use of such an organ for 

 the purposes of intercommunication must be highly problematical. 

 Hut no trace of such a disposition is to be found in tho head, nor 

 very certainly, also, in the body ; and we are obliged to look for some 

 organ which may answer tho requirements of an effective auditory 

 apparatus. 



" The position of the capsules strikes us ag extremely favourable for 

 the performance of the function which we assign to them ; besides 

 which there present themselves in the same light the anatomical 

 arrangement of the capsules, the disposition and lodgment of the 

 nerves, the fitness of the expanded whorls for receiving, and of the 

 jointed antenna) fixed by the immoveable basal joint for transmitting, 

 vibrations created by sonorous modulations. The intra-capsular fluid 

 is impressed by tho shock, the expanded nerve appreciates the effect, 

 of the sound, and the animal may judge of the intensity, or distance, 

 of the source of sound, by the quantity of the impression : of the 

 pitch, or quality, by the consonance of particular whorls of the stiff 

 hair*, according to their lengths; and of the direction in which the 

 modulations travel, by tho manner iu which they strike upon the 

 antenna;, or may be made to meet either antenna, in consequence of 

 an opposite movement of that part 



" That the male should be endowed with superior acutenera of the 

 sense of hearing appears from the fact., that ho must seek the female 

 for sexual union cither in the dim twilight or in the dark night, wlien 

 nothing save her deep sharp humming noise can serve him as a guide. 

 The necessity for an equal perfection of hearing does not exist in the 



