Air Raid 



BY KATHY HART 



Twas the first day of vacation and out on the shore 

 Nothing could be heard but the ocean's own roar. 

 Mama in her bikini and I in my beach hat 

 Had just settled down for an afternoon nap. 



When out by the salt marsh there arose such a buzzing, 

 I sprang from my lounge chair to see what was a-coming. 

 I hopped in my flip-flops, brushed off the sand, 

 Tossed off my beach hat and adjusted my Ray Bans. 



When what to my wondering eyes should appear, 

 But a swarm of biting insects— enough to cause fear. 

 On deerflies, on greenheads, on biting sand fleas, 

 On four types of mosquitoes including Culux and Aedes. 



As I drew in my head and was turning around 

 I felt the jaws of the first mosquito bite down. 

 Its eyes how beady, its legs how hairy, 

 Its long tubelike mouth looked terribly scary. 



With a flick of my hand and spray of repellent 

 I drove away my blood-thirsty assailants. 

 But I heard them exclaim as they flew out of sight, 

 "Happy vacation to all and to all a good bite." 



Whether resident or vacationer, everyone has 

 suffered through a summer invasion of the 

 coast's biting insects— mosquitoes, deerflies, 

 greenhead flies, dog flies and no-see-ums. 



And no matter how much repellent you spray, 

 one mosquito or no-see-um always finds that 

 tender unsprayed spot on the back of your leg to 

 plant its jaws. 



Before long, you're itching, scratching and rub- 

 bing on the analgesic salve. 



It's enough to spoil your day. 



Like it or not, the same refreshing salt water 

 that attracts us to the coast also breeds blood- 

 sucking pests. 



From Morehead City south along the North 

 Carolina coast, salt marsh mosquitoes, no-see- 

 ums, greenhead flies and deerflies are abundant. 

 From Morehead City north, it's salt marsh mos- 

 quitoes, greenheads and deerflies. 



The pest season starts early. The first wave of 

 mosquitoes usually swarms out of the salt marsh 

 in mid-April. The flies and no-see-ums join the 

 blood quest a month or so later. 



Interestingly, it's the females of these flying 

 pests that delight in drawing blood. They need a 

 blood meal to produce their eggs. The males 

 feed on plant juices instead. 



About 50 species of mosquitoes inhabit our 

 coast. But fortunately, only about one dozen of 

 them attack people. Other mosquito species 

 specifically draw blood from birds or from reptiles 

 and amphibians. 



Aedes, or salt marsh mosquitoes, have earned 

 a reputation as the most abundant and tenacious 

 mosquitoes to swarm our shores. They're a little 

 larger than their mosquito cousins, more persis- 

 tent in pursuing their prey and active from dawn 

 until dusk in their quest. 



Other mosquitoes seek their meals only during 

 twilight hours. 



The female salt marsh mosquito lays its eggs in 

 moist soils that will eventually be inundated by 

 tidal flows or rainwater. When the eggs are flood- 

 ed, they hatch. Three weeks later, hungry adult 

 mosquitoes emerge from the marsh in droves. 



The average mosquito lives two to three weeks, 

 and 90 percent of the females die after taking on- 

 ly one blood meal and laying their eggs, says 

 Charles Apperson, an entomologist at North 

 Carolina State University. 



