■ 454 MOSQUITOES 



of a bit of poisonous saliva into the wound made by the piercing 

 mouthparts of the insect. The susceptibility of some people to 

 the effect of mosquito poison is much greater than that of others. 

 The author has seen individuals on whom mosquito bites swelled 

 up like bee stings and were even more painful, whereas the author 

 himself has frequently been unaware of the fact that a mosquito 

 was biting him unless the insect was seen by him or was pointed 

 out by a less indifferent companion. Moreover, the effect of the 

 bites of different species of mosquitoes varies, so that while some 

 species may produce very little irritation others may prove un- 

 bearably annoying. Dr. Smith, of New Jersey, became prac- 

 tically immune to the bites of some of the salt marsh mosquitoes, 

 but was troubled by the house mosquito, Culex pipiens, and still 

 more so by Anopheles. The author has had similar experience, 

 and has found himself driven almost to frenzy by some species 

 and hardly annoyed at all by others. It is quite probable that 

 the complaints which are heard from visitors to the ocean resorts 

 of the New Jersey coast are due to the fact that these visitors 

 are fully susceptible to the poison of the salt marsh mosquitoes 

 whereas they may have become more or less immune to the 

 inland mosquitoes of their own districts. These facts clearly 

 indicate that there is a specific difference in the poison of different 

 kinds of mosquitoes, and Dr. Smith's experiences show that 

 acquired immunity to one mosquito may give Uttle or no relief 

 from another. 



There is a popular belief that if a mosquito is allowed to draw 

 his fill of blood, the bite is less painful and becomes less swollen 

 than if she is killed or driven away. This belief is to a large 

 extent true, the probable reason being that when the insect 

 is allowed to finish her meal, the droplet of poisonous saliva in- 

 jected into the wound is drawn back into the stomach of the 

 mosquito with the blood on which it acts. 



Many different remedies have been recommended for mos- 

 quito bites. Ammonia, alcohol, glycerine, indigo, iodine, ether, 

 camphor, naphthaline (moth balls), cresol preparations, a 2^ 

 per cent carbolic solution — all these and others have had their 

 adherents amongst entomologists, hunters, travelers and house- 

 wives. All of them probably have some alleviating effect, and 

 it is not unlikely that their effects may vary with different spe- 

 cies of mosquitoes and perhaps even with individuals. Dr. 



