10 MOSQUITOES 



normal. An insect in a broeding-cage may die in twent}^- 

 four lionrs, but that does not mean that it may not live 

 for weeks outside. Certain insects die quickly from 

 fright under such conditions, or from violent efforts to 

 escape. I once covered a very large Yucca plant with 

 gauze netting and placed under the netting about a hun- 

 dred honey bees, in order to see whether the flowers of 

 Yucca could be fertilized by bees. In twenty-four hours 

 every one of the insects was dead, and yet we know that 

 the honey bee is a long-lived insect. Such evidence as 

 we have, however, shows that mosquitoes are also long- 

 lived. It seems that they cannot live many days with- 

 out plenty of air. Dr. Yeazie, of New Orleans, writes 

 me that he has kept them alive Avith various substances 

 for a month. AVithout water or food, the limit seemed 

 to him, from his observations, to be live days for all va- 

 rieties he tried. If there is no water in the house he 

 states that the mosquitoes will leave the house and seek 

 water. He has seen them repeatedly go down into a 

 pitcher or a glass, remain for a few minutes, and then fl}^ 

 awa3^ He thinks that they do that principally to get a 

 drink, although he has found eggs in a glass of water 

 and in pitchers. Mr. Mitchell, of Yietoria, Tex., how- 

 ever, writes that he kept a number of mosquitoes in a 

 box once, to see how long they could live on air, and that 

 on the twentj^-first day none had died. Medical ob- 

 servers in their experimental work with the mosquitoes 

 of the genus Anopheles have been able to keep adults 

 alive under glass, by feeding them upon slices of banana 

 or some other fruit, for weeks, the banana being renewed 



