CHAPTER IV 



THE MOSQUITO {Anopheles maciUipennis) 



Part I 



Where the water is stopped in a stagnant pond« 

 Danced over by the midge. 



(R. Bkowning, By the Fireside.) 



There is no zoological distinction between 

 a mosquito, a gnat, or a midge. But, as a 

 matter of convenience, we might confine the 

 term ' gnat ' to the genus Culecc, the term 

 ' mosquito ' to the genus Anopheles, and the 

 term ' midge ' to the genus Ceratopogon and 

 its congeners, whose collocation with the 

 naked knees of the Highlander is said to have 

 given rise to the * Highland Fling.' 



There is no doubt about it that both the 

 mosquito and the gnat are extraordinarily 

 beautiful insects. This fact, however, has 

 been veiled from the public partly owing to 

 their small size and more especially because 

 of their irritating bite, which causes the 

 sufferer to kill a mosquito at sight rather than 

 examine its fairylike beauty or its fascinating 



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