REMEDIES AGAINST MOSQUITOES 111 



After from five to fifteen days the larvae become pupae or "tum- 

 blers," so called from their bobbing up and down or turning 

 over in the water. After five to fifteen days of pupa-hood the 

 skin opens at the back and the mosquito comes out. It dries its 

 wings and is then ready for business on dry land. The female is 

 the business member of the house, and it is she who sings and 

 sucks the whole night through. 



The natural food of the mosquito is vegetation, and with this 

 the male contents himself. It is the female alone that develops 

 a carnivorous appetite. The life of the mosquito is short, but 

 from the later hatchings of the fall a great number live over 

 winter in garrets, cellars, etc., for the cold does not kill them. 



In early spring the female begins to lay her eggs, and as she 

 lays about 300 in each bunch, the rate of increase is prodigious. 

 Hence the importance of anointing with oil all pools of water. 

 When the female comes to lay her eggs she will desist, and lay- 

 ing them on some twig or leaf, they will perish. If she alights on 

 the oil-anointed water she perishes and her eggs perish with her. 

 If the eggs have been laid before the oil is put in the water and 

 the insects are in either larva or pupa state when the oil is put 

 in, it will destroy them. 



The most important time then to fight this insect is just at 

 this season before they have multiplied, as they will do in a few 

 weeks if left alone. Since, however, the mosquito goes on lay- 

 ing and hatching until al)out November, it is necessary to fight 

 it all the season through^ perhaps several seasons through. 



