THE MOSQUITO 97 



swore terribly in Flanders.' The incessant 

 and tireless biting of mosquitos would make 

 any army swear, even though they were 

 ignorant — as my Uncle Toby's army certainly 

 was ignorant — that the gnats, as they called 

 them, conveyed tertian and quartan ague. 

 In Europe the trouble is a summer or early 

 autumn trouble ; but our troops are fighting 

 in many tropical and sub-tropical countries, 

 where the mosquitos — like the poor — are 

 always with them. 



That the plague can now be checked is 

 shown by the making of the Panama Canal ; 

 and that this check is due to British science 

 is shown by the work on the life-history of 

 the malarial organism, first investigated by Sir 

 Ronald Ross, and later, as regards the human 

 parasites, by certain Italian savants. It is also 

 due to the public health services of one or two 

 British medical officers of health in the East. 

 Their methods have been applied and improved 

 by those responsible for the elusive channel 

 which now at times separates North from 

 South America. 



We have seen that the larva and the pupa 

 hang on to the surface-film of the water by 

 means of certain suspensory hairs, and by 

 the openings of their breathing-apparatus. 

 Anything which prevents the breathing-tubes 

 reaching the air ensures the death of the 



