576 ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES FOR THE YEAR 1S69. 



XXII. — Entomological Notes for the Year 1869. By Thos. John 

 Bold. 



Mosquitoes.-' — Not a little misappreliension and. alarm exist in 

 the minds of many people on the subject of mosquitoes, who, 

 seeing their appearance noticed in the newspapers, begin to 

 dread a visit from these the greatest pests of the insect world. 

 This is totally groundless ; for, although we have in this country 

 more than a dozen distinct species of mosquito, yet they never 

 are numerous enough in individuals to cause more than a very 

 trifling annoyance : indeed in most seasons are totally unnoticed, 

 but in case of an unusually hot summer they, like all insects, 

 become more than usually active, and force themselves upon 

 our notice by the persistency of their attacks. Mosquitoes very 

 often enter our sitting-rooms towards the end of summer, but 

 we more fi'equently hear their shrill piping note than see the 

 insects ; nor do we find them alight on the place selected for 

 attack as they (like all blood-sucking flies) do so very gently. 

 The swelling and irritation caused by their bite is no doubt the 

 effect of an irritating fluid injected into the wound for the pur- 

 pose of causing the blood to flow freely ; and very curiously, in 

 their case, as in that of "clegs," "horse-flies," and other blood- 

 sucking Diptera, it is only the females that have such sanguinary 

 tastes : what the other sex feed on, in many of the species, re- 

 mains a mystery. 



A mosquito is a small simple -looking two-winged fly, or gnat, 

 with very long delicate legs, not much over one-third of an inch 

 in length, and having a proboscis nearly half as long as itself, 

 which is porrect, or stretched out in front of the insect's head. 



Our British species form the genus Culex, and they are most 

 abundant in low-lying swampy situations, as they pass the first 

 stages of their existence in water. 



I have mounted and sent to the Museum of the Natural His- 

 tory Society an individual, which I caught at dinner on my own 

 nose, and which I have no doubt Mr. Wright will gladly show 

 to any one curious enough to favour him with a visit. 



