CHAPTER VII 



THE MOSQUITO {AnoTphdes maculipennis) 



Part IV 



Gnats are unnoted wheresoe'er they fly, 

 But eagles gazed upon with every eye. 



(Shakespeabe, Bape of Lucrece.) 



The eggs of the mosquito are deposited 

 in fresh water, and at first they are white, 

 but they very rapidly darken until they 

 assume a polished black appearance. Each 

 egg is 0-72 mm. in length, and its greatest 

 breadth, which is somewhere about its middle, 

 is 0*16 mm. The egg is boat-shaped, and 

 one end, as is usual in boats, is slightly deeper 

 and fuller than the other. The under surface 

 is fluted, and is marked by a minute network. 

 The upper surface has a coarser reticulation 

 which divides the surface into nearly equal 

 hexagonal areas. The rim of the ' boat ' is 

 thickened, and these thickenings are regularly 

 ribbed ; they extend over above the median 

 third of the egg, and recall the rounded float 

 which runs along the edge of a life-boat: 



76 



