8 WAYS OF THE SIX-FOOTED 



place upon us which she judges will be a good site 

 for a pumping station. We do not like her noise a 

 whit better even though it be a love song. 



The mosquito is an exception to all other insect min- 

 nesingers, for she is the only one among them all that 

 belongs to the female sex. The lover for whom she 

 sings is a quiet, gentlemanly fellow who never troubles 

 us, as he has no taste for blood ; he may be found upon 

 the window-panes, and may be recognized by his 

 feathery antennas, which stand out in front of his head 

 like a pair of pomjjons. The physicist, Professor A. M. 

 Mayer, performed some interesting exjjeri- 

 ments which seem to prove beyond doubt 

 that the antennae of the male mosquito 

 are organs of hearing. Figure 2 shows 

 one of these antennae. It will be noted 

 ■ KiG. 2. that each segment bears a whorl of hairs 



.vutennaof and that these whorls diminish in size 



Aale Mosquito. , i , n • ^ , r^, 



toward the tip of the antenna. The 

 experiment was as follows : Professor Mayer cemented 

 a mosquito to a glass slide without injuring him, and 

 observed him through a microscope while an assistant 

 sounded tuning forks, varying in pitch, in different 

 parts of the room. The note from a fork of low pitch 

 caused the basal whorl of hairs to vibrate ; a note from 

 a higher key caused a whorl of hairs nearer the tip to 



