86 HOURS WITH NATURE. 



" I am waiting for an answer to my question." 



" What is that, may I ask ?" 



" Forgotten so soon, eh !" My question was if yon 

 could see any animal here that you are already familiar 

 with or others that resemble them. 



" There are lots." 



" Name some please." 



" Here are the butterflies." 



" Here are the crabs." 



" What gigantic prawns !" 



" Fancy exhibiting these wretched mosquitoes here as 

 objects of curiosity." 



" They are objects of very great curiosity indeed." 



" How ? J) 



"Just look at that enlarged drawing of a mosquito with 

 its mouth parts modified for piercing and sucking. It 

 has only one pair of fully developed wings, which are 

 known as forewings ; the hindwings are reduced to small 

 knobs. Perhaps every day of our life we have killed 

 many and disabled more of these little stinging pests, yet 

 never have we paused to examine their organization and 

 habits." 



"I don't like them though, they are so blood-thirsty." 

 " Blood-thirsty no doubt, but with the majority of 



them the thirst for blood ever remains unsatisfied." 

 " We do not understand you. Blood, we thought, is 



as much necessary to a mosquito's existence as food and 



drink are to us." 



"To be able to suck blood is no doubt a great delight 



