THE MOSyUITO 19 



quitoes as they are hatched from the egg, and that the wrigglers 

 with the big head end are young mosquitoes in a stage following 

 the first wriggler stage, and from which the winged mosquito 

 comes. All these changes the children may see for themselves, 

 and all in three or four weeks. 



1 have said that the larval wrigglers transform into the pupal 

 wrigglers, and that the pupal wrigglers transform into winged 

 mosquitoes. This is really true, but as seen from without, as 

 seen by the children, one form will appear to issue from the next 

 preceding form, i. e. the skin of the larval wriggler will split 

 along the back and a pupal wriggler will come out, the split 

 empty skin of the larva floating away on the water's surface. 

 Then from the pupa similarly will come the winged mosquito, 

 and the remt pupal skin will remain floating on the water. This 

 last transformation ought to be watched carefully. From the 

 splitting pupal skin will appear first the humped back of the mos- 

 quito, then slowly and carefully the head with its bushy feelers 

 and long piercing beak, and, finally, the long slender legs. While 

 all this is going on, the pupal skin serves as a raft upon which 

 the soft-bodied, damp mosquito is safelj' supported until its wings 

 and legs are unfolded and dried and hardened, and it is ready to 

 fly away. 



The winged mosquitoes may be kept some days in the hope 

 that they will lay eggs, but this hope will probably not be realized. 

 Only rarelj' do mosquitoes in confinement lay eggs. It is worth 

 while however, to make the trial, altho the proof that the eggs 

 and wrigglers are mosquitoes in egg, larval and pupal stages is 

 complete without the actual observation of egg-laying. 



All of the observations we have so far undertaken have been 

 easily made. They have related to the habits and the life-history 

 or development and growth of the mosquito. There are, how- 

 ever, some other interesting observations which we can make, but 

 for which it will be necessary to have the aid ol a microscope. 

 These observations relate to the details of the structure of the 



