The Collection of Anopheles Mosquitoes 



wine bottle), so that the test-tubes can be used again. In this way 

 if " anopheles " are at all plentiful, fifty or sixty can be caught in a 

 very short time. 



But before commencing the search for adult mosquitoes of this 

 kind it is advisable to carefully select a suitable place. A native 

 village with breeding places near (such as a stream, or canal, or 

 ponds) should be chosen if possible. In such a village there will 

 probably be several old unoccupied huts and sheds, and it is in these 

 a good catch is most likely to be made. It is almost useless to 

 search in a new house with whitened walls. The best place of all 

 is in old unoccupied house with smoke-blackened thatched roof and 

 mud walls. It is better to look first in an unoccupied house, because 

 the smoke from the wood fires in houses where people are living, 

 drives most of the mosquitoes out during the day-time into the 

 nearest empty house or shed. Cowsheds in the middle of a village, 

 native carpenters' shops, wood sheds, and the barracks of native 

 soldiers, are also good places in which, to search for " anopheles " 

 mosquitoes. 



In houses with high roofs it may be necessary to mount on a 

 ladder in order to very carefully examine each section of the thatch. 

 The darker corners, the angles between the rafters and the thatch, 

 and the cobwebs hanging from the roof, are favourite resting 

 places of these mosquitoes. The commoner species, such as A. 

 rossi, are usually seen at once, because they are light-coloured and 

 large and stand out against the black background of sootlike little 

 white thorns hanging from the roof, but the smaller darker coloured 

 species are difficult to see. A. culicifacies, for example, hides most 

 successfully in holes and corners of the roof, and in many places it 

 would be possible to catch several hundred specimens of A. rossi 

 in the time that it would take to catch fifteen or twenty specimens 

 of this species. A difficulty also arises in collecting specimens of 

 this very important species, from the fact that, as it does not 

 assume the characteristic attitude of the majority of " anopheles " 

 mosquitoes when resting on a wall or roof, it is very liable to be 

 mistaken for a small brown "culex." For this reason, as well as for 

 the reason that species of " anopheles " occur in India, the wings of 

 which are entirely unspotted, it is advisable, in rooms which are 

 badly lighted, to catch all the mosquitoes that are seen, without 



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