MOSQUITOS OR CULICIDAE OF NEW YORK STATE 247 



,000 in their destruction the year after it was proved that 

 mosquitO'S conveyed the fever, eminently satisfactoiry results being 

 obtained. 



Filariasis. This dread disease is limited to the tropics, and 

 while horrible in its effects, is of much less importance in New 

 York State, and consequently is only mentioned. 



It has been demonstrated that certain mosquitos convey mala- 

 rious parasites to birds, and it would not be surprising if future 

 investigations should show that some species were guilty of har- 

 boring other diseases than those named above. 



Distribution and abundance of mosquitos. These frail insects are 

 ordinarily regarded as inhabitants of temperate or warmer cli- 

 mates, yet it is a fact that certain species exist in hordes even 

 within the arctic circle. Entomologic literature contains many 

 records of enormous swarms of these insects, and in some cases 

 they are carried miles by the wind, and are so bloodthirsty as to 

 drive man and beast before them. These insects are so aggressive 

 in some localities as to give name to a place; for example, there is 

 a town named Mosquito in Illinois, a village bearing the same 

 title in Newfoundland, a Mosquito creek in Indiana, another in 

 Iowa, still another in Ohio, and most of us have heard of the 

 mosquito country of Central America. Dr Riley states that the 

 bravest man on the fleetest horse dares not to cross some of the 

 more rank and dark prairies of Minnesota in June, while the 

 marshlands of New Jersey and the hills of Long Island have 

 become notorious because of the abundance of these little pests, 

 and frequenters of the Adirondacks can speak from experience of 

 the biting powers of these insects. 



Adults. Adult mosquitos vary in habit, many, as we know, fly- 

 ing at dusk, some almost all night, and a few may be found 

 abroad in the daytime. The normal food of adult mosquitos is 

 probably plant juices, and the taste for blood possessed by 

 certain species is presumably an acquired habit. Blood-sucking 

 mosquitos not only attack mammals, but also birds, reptiles and 

 fish, even killing the latter in some cases. Members of certain 

 genera, according to Theobald, are not bloodsuckers. Aedes, in 



