74 MORE MINOR HORRORS 



noticed that mosquitos still continue to give 

 forth a faint note even when their wings are 

 quite at rest, and this note may possibly be 

 caused by the halteres. 



The part which sound plays in the life of 

 the mosquito has not been very fully recog- 

 nised. Grassi says that people who are talk- 

 ing are more liable to be bitten by Anopheles 

 than people who are silent — and quite properly, 

 we think ; people are apt to talk too much, 

 especially in trains. Joly observes in Mada- 

 gascar that mosquitos are attracted by music. 

 When he played a stringed instrument the 

 quiescent mosquitos in his room began to 

 fly about, and if the windows were open 

 mosquitos were attracted from the outside into 

 his room, and he notes that mosquitos are 

 attracted by musicians when at work, or should 

 we say — ^at play ? 



Two curious instances — one recorded by 

 Howard and the other printed in a letter 

 to The Times — of the attraction that electric 

 buzzings have on these insects may be given. 

 Mr. A. de P. Weaver, an electrical engineer, 

 of Jackson, Miss., U.S.A., records that, when 

 engaged in some experiments in harmonic 

 telegraphy, he observed that when the note 

 was raised to a certain number of vibrations 

 per second, all the mosquitos — not only in the 

 room, but from the outside — would congregate 



