MOSQUITO BITES AND REMEDIES 



453 



On the other hand, the widespread popular bchef in the part 

 played by the mosquito, the fact that several observers have 

 independently observed similar phenomena, and the fact that 

 Dermatohia has been observed holding flies between its legs, and 

 has never been seen actually depositing its eggs on a host, make 

 it unwise to discard the mosquito theory as impossible. As 

 remarked by Sambon, this fly may have several ways of disposing 

 of its eggs, and the utilization of the mosquito and perhaps of 

 other insects as transports for them may well be one of these ways. 



The mosquito involved, whenever determined, has been found 

 to be a species of Jan- 

 thinosoma; in the one 

 case where the species 

 was determined it was 

 found to be ./. lutzi (Fig. 

 206). This is a large, 

 beautifully colored 

 mosquito, with flashes 

 of metallic violet and 

 sky blue on its thorax 

 and abdomen. It is 

 said by Knab to be one 

 of the most blood- 

 thirsty of American 

 mosquitoes and is 

 found throughout trop- 

 ical America. The 

 larvae breed almost ex- 

 clusively in rain puddles, the eggs being laid in dry depressions 

 on the forest floor which will become basins of water after a 

 tropical downpour of rain. The eggs hatch almost with the first 

 drop of rain, and mature so rapidly that adult insects may 

 emerge in four or five days. The larvae feed on particles of 

 organic matter, and are themselves fed upon by the larvae of the 

 closely allied genus of mosquitoes, Psorophora, which breed in the 

 same rain pools. 



Mosquito Bites and Remedies for Them 



As has been remarked before, the pain and irritation produced 

 by a mosquito bite is usually believed to be due to the injection 



Fig. 206. Mosquito, Janthinosoma lutzi, with 

 eggs, supposedly of Dermatohia hominis, attached 

 to abdomen. (After Sambon.) 



