HKITISH Hl.OODSl-CKKKS 243 



Witliiii Iho piipa-casc, wliicli is sinalK-r tli.m llic 

 i.iiva, the insect is bent (li)iihle; in this apparently 

 nnconifortable position, it bej^ins to develop the 

 \vinj4>, the le\<4s, and [\\v blood-snekinj^ apparatns 

 of tile perfect niostpiito. Xevertheless, ill-adapted 

 as such a shape nii^ht seem for locomotion — with 

 one's head tucked undei", and one's eyes lookim; 

 downward— the mosquito in the pupa continues 

 to move about freely, instead of taking life mean- 

 while in the spiiit of a nuunm\ in the mummy- 

 case. By way of change, however, he now eats 

 nothing — having, in fact, no mouth to eat with. 

 Hut the most wonderful tiling of all is the altera- 

 tion in his method of breathing. The pupa no 

 longer breathes with its tail, but with the front 

 part t)f its body, where two little hoiii -shaped 

 tubes are developed for the purpose. Vou can 

 see them in the illustration (Xo, 6), which is 

 taken at the moment when the active and loco- 

 motive pupa has just come to the surface to 

 breathe, and is floating, back up, and head 

 doubled under downward, in a most constrained 

 position. The attitude reminds one of nothing; 

 so much as that of a bull, with his head be- 

 tween iiis lei^s, rushing forward to attack one. 

 Vou can see through the pupa-case the j^reat dark 

 eyes and the rudiments of the le^s as they forni 

 below it. 



Xo. 7 exhibits very prettily the next stai^e in 

 this short eventful history the emer<fence of a 

 female mosquito from her dres^inj^-j^own or pupa- 

 case. She looks like a lady coming out of her 



