166 MOSQUITOES 



The mosquito being' an aquatic insect, tlie mite ol^served 

 by Mr. Salmon may be one of the little water-mites of 

 the famil3^ HydrachnidjTe, but the mosquito issues from 

 its pupa so rapidly that this is hardly likely. It is more 

 likely to be one of the Trombidiidse, the young of which 

 maj^ crawl upon the mosquito when it is at rest upon the 

 plants. 



Some observations upon the natural enemies of the 

 malarial mosquitoes of the g-enus Anopheles have been 

 made by Dr. C. AV. Daniels in East Africa ("Reports to 

 the Malaria Committee of the Royal Society," December 

 31, 1900). He saj^s that fish, and especially young" fry and 

 small fishes, will speedily destroy the mosquito larvse, 

 but in spite of this, Anopheles larv?ie are often found in 

 pools, rivers, etc., where fish are abundant, and pup?e and 

 mature larvae among- them. This is seen in open pools 

 as well as in the g'rass-grown rivers. He also says that 

 tadpoles do not attack the larvae even in captivity, and 

 g-oes on to say that larv?e of Coleoptera and drag-on-flies, 

 often found in numbers in water with abundant Anoph- 

 eles larv,^, even in captivitj^ do not seem to devour them. 



In x^onds where there are larg-e-leafed water-plants, 

 mosquitoes frequently escape the attacks of fish, and 

 man3^ more of their natural enemies, bj^ holding- to the 

 water-surface, especially above partly submerged leaves. 

 This is esx^ecially the case with Anopheles larvae, which 

 remain quite at the surface during the best part of their 

 existence 



