BRITISH BLOODSUCKERS 243 



Within the pupa-case, which is smaller than the 

 larva, the insect is bent double ; in this apparently 

 uncomfortable position, it begins to develop the 

 wings, the legs, and the blood-sucking apparatus 

 of the perfect mosquito. Nevertheless, ill-adapted 

 as such a shape might seem for locomotion with 

 one's head tucked under, and one's eyes looking 

 downward the mosquito in the pupa continues 

 to move about freely, instead of taking life mean- 

 while in the spirit of a mummy in the mummy- 

 case. By way of change, however, he now eats 

 nothing having, in fact, no mouth to eat with. 

 But the most wonderful thing of all is the altera- 

 tion in his method .of breathing. The pupa no 

 longer breathes with its tail, but with the front 

 part of its body, where two little horn -shaped 

 tubes are developed for the purpose. You can 

 see them in the illustration (No. 6), which is 

 taken at the moment when the active and loco- 

 motive pupa has just come to the surface to 

 breathe, and is floating, back up, and head 

 doubled under downward, in a most constrained 

 position. The attitude reminds one of nothing 

 so much as that of a bull, with his head be- 

 tween his legs, rushing forward to attack one. 

 You can see through the pupa-case the great dark 

 eyes and the rudiments of the legs as they form 

 below it. 



No. 7 exhibits very prettily the next stage in 

 this short eventful history the emergence of a 

 female mosquito from her dressing-gown or pupa- 

 case. She looks like a lady coming out of her 





