236 FLASHLIGHTS ON NATURE 



by minute variations in the antennae and other 

 almost microscopic peculiarities. Indeed, if I 

 hadn't told you this was an Indian mosquito, 

 you would never have discovered that it wasn't 

 a Fenland gnat. 



The mosquito is in a certain sense an amphi- 

 bious animal ; that is to say, during the course of 

 its life, it has tried both land and water. It begins 

 existence as an aquatic creature, and only steps 



NO. i. MOSQUITO'S EGG-RAFT, SEEN SIDEWAYS. 



ashore at last to fly in the open air when it has 

 arrived at its adult form and days of discretion. 

 The mother mosquito, flitting in a cloud-like swarm 

 of her kind, haunts for the most part moist and 

 watery spots in thick woods or marshes, and lays 

 her tiny eggs on the surface of some pool or stag- 

 nant water. They are deposited one by one, and 

 then glued together with a glutinous secretion into 

 a little raft or boat, shown in No. i, which floats 

 about freely on the pond or puddle. It looks just 



