416 THE MOUNTAIN. 



lationship of insect and man, or of "insects which make 

 man their food." 



This universally-admired and beloved insect belongs, ac- 

 cording to entomologists, to the family Culicidse and genus 

 Culex ; order Diptera ; the numerous species of which are 

 said to "cover the globe from pole to pole, and from 

 east to west, through both hemispheres." The Culex 

 pipiens is the common mosquito of America. He derives 

 his specific name from the music he makes, (particularly 

 attractive in serenade ;) which piping is produced by vibra- 

 tions of his "immaculate wings," executed at the rate, 

 according to Baron C. de Latour, of three thousand per 

 minute. This is a great fact to meditate upon at mid- 

 night, when his touching song is performed, with all its 

 variations, simply for one's amusement. The mosquito 

 was noticed early by naturalists : by Aristotle and Pliny, 

 who, according to Kirby, " distinguishes well between Hy- 

 rnenoptera and Diptera, when he says the former have their 

 stings in the tail, and the latter in their mouth ; and that to 

 one this weapon is given as the instrument of vengeance, 

 and to the other of avidity." The interesting sting in the 

 mouth of this sweet singer is said to be of exceeding in- 

 genuity as a mechanical implement, not to speak of certain 

 venomous qualities beside. " The instrument of avidity is 

 even more terrible than that of vengeance in most insects 

 thus armed with it ; like the latter, also, as appears from the 

 consequent inflammation and tumor, it instills into its wounds 

 a poison ; the principal use of which, however, is to render 

 the blood more fluid and fitter for suction. This weapon, 

 which is more complex than the sting of hymenopterous in- 

 sects, consists of five* pieces besides the exterior sheath, some 

 of which seem simply lancets, while others are barbed like 

 the spicula of a bee's sting, is at once calculated for piercing 

 the flesh and forming a siphon adapted to imbibe the blood, "f 



* The rostrum is very long and slender, apparently simple, but 

 composed of seven organs." IT. 

 f Kirby and Spence. 



