AQUATIC INSECTS OF FRESHWATER 



hatches on the surface of the water, and stocking with these is an approved 

 preventive measure. 



The larvEe and pupae of mosquitoes are one of the best natural foods 

 for goldfishes, in many respects preferable to the entomostraca. They 

 are usually more easily obtained, larger in size, more tenacious of life and 

 are eagerly eaten by the young fishes, who acquire a most remarkably 

 rapid growth on this 

 diet. It is not ad- 

 visible to feed them 

 to very small fishes, 

 as these are not able 

 to swallow them and 

 may, in turn, be at- 

 tacked by the larvas, 

 but for fishes which 

 have reached a 

 growth of half an 

 inch, they should 

 form one of the 

 principal foods. A 

 few barrels filled with 

 rain water at any 

 convenient place 

 only are required; in 

 which they may be 

 bred either by the 

 visits of female mos- 

 quitoes, or more 

 quickly stocked by 

 catches in ponds and ditches. They breed very rapidly and are a cleaner 

 diet than the usual live pond food. The use of mosquito larvae is almost 

 universal among goldfish breeders and is to be in every way recommended. 



Net-Winged Midges belong to the families of Blepharoceridae and 

 Chironomidae, of which the tiny larvae appears more like crustaceans than 

 insects. Some of the species, Blefharocera capitata, Chironomus minutus 

 and C. plomosus, live in the water during the larval and pupal stages, are of 

 black color and consist of segments bearing leg-like appendages, each 

 having sucker breathing gills. They usually occur in clusters which 

 form black patches on submerged rocks. When the final metamorphosis 

 takes place the pupa detaches itself from its mooring, floats to the surface, 

 and the Midge rends the case and takes to flight. They form the natural 



267 



FIG. 221. Full-grown larva and pupa of Ca/« /ia»j«/iJ. Greatly enlarged. 



