38 310 SQ UITOES 



paratus of some Diptera" (1881), made a most careful 

 study of the mouth-parts of both male and female mosqui- 

 toes. His conclusions are decidedly against the possibil- 

 ity that male mosquitoes can bite warm-blooded animals. 

 He says, " I have tried to have the male mosquitoes bite 

 me when in the held where they were al)undMnt, but they 

 did not seem attracted, as the female mosquitoes were, to 

 my person ; the}^ flew away indiflerentl}^ without lig'hting 

 upon me. I have often taken male mosquitoes, Avith all 

 possible care to prevent disturbing- them, beneath a glass 

 cover on my hand, letting them remain long enough to 

 be as tranquil as they were when upon the leaves and 

 grass of the field, but they Avould neither bite nor show 

 any desire to do so, nor have I been able to feed male 

 mosquitoes with water, saliva, or fresh blood, all of which 

 liquids the females often drink with avidity. 



" Upon anatomical grounds, I 1)elieve that male mos- 

 quitoes take liquid food, although I have never dissected 

 their stomachs to see what this food was. They have 

 mouth-parts and jDharynx developed sufficiently to suck 

 liquids ; but the absence of barbed maxilla, of a free hy- 

 popharj^nx, and of cesophageal bulb, leads one to suppose 

 that they take a smaller quantity of food than the females 

 do, and that they do not obtain it by piercing the skins 

 of animals." 



There is a European species of mosquito, Ctdex salinus 

 Ficalbi, which is said to be diurnal in its habits, and to 

 live in salt water, of which the male is said to bite, and 

 to possess mouth-parts quite like those of the female. 



