12 



The Mosquito. 



Obtaining and Caring for Study Material. 

 The mosquito is an always available and 

 thoroly interesting object of nature study. At 

 any time of the year, and in almost any small 

 pool of stagnant water, the familiar "wrig- 

 glers," which are the larvae or first young 

 stage, of the mosquito, can be found. "A ditch 

 in a wood choked with fallen leaves is one of 

 the best hunting grounds." Some of the 

 ''^•^•mJsquiols^"^"' material from which the following notes 

 were made came from a watering trough in a pasture, and 

 some of it came from a barrel of water containing considerable 

 decaying matter. In many localities it is necessary only to ex- 

 pose an open pail or cask of water for a few days in order to get a 

 thriving colony of mosquitoes. The mosquito larvae (wrigglers) 

 are so distinctive in structure and manner that no trouble will be 

 had thru mistaking other aquatic insect larva or other aquatic 

 animals for them. 



By reference to the figure of the larva (fig. 5) this characteris- 

 tic appearance can be got acquainted with ; in addition, the 

 characteristic wriggling of the body when the creature is mov- 

 ing thru the water, and the hanging head downward from the sur- 

 face when at rest, are manners which make the mosquito larvae 

 readily recognizable. 



Besides the larvae, there may be found both the eggs and the 

 pupae (second young stage). The eggs are in small masses which 

 float on the surface of the water, resembling at careless glance 

 nothing else so much as a largish bit of soot. These little, float- 

 ing, sooty bits are composed of a single layer of slender, elongate 

 eggs standing on end, and loosely fastened together to form a nar- 

 row, irregular, little raft, slightly concave on the upper surface. 

 The pupa (fig. 6) is composed of a big bulbous head and a 



