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Chapter X 
Dissection and Examination of Mosquitoes 
for the Malarial Parasite 
Dissection of Mosquitoes 
Necessary Apparatus. 
1. Slides and coverglasses. 
2. Two needles, preferably the straight surgical 
needles used for making blood films, as they have 
a cutting edge. 
3. Some salt solution, about half per cent. 
4. It is convenient to have a white and a black 
surface for dissecting on. 
Some mosquitoes are caught—by placing over the 
top of the jar used for feeding another empty jar of the 
same size—and kept alive in a dark cupboard for two 
or three days, until their stomachs are quite free from 
blood (seen by the complete disappearance of black 
from the ventral portion of the abdomen). 
A few specimens are killed by £ concussion,’ in a 
test tube. 
1. Observe (if a gravid female) two whitish areas 
on either side of the hinder portion of the abdomen 
(ripening ovaries). If the blood in the stomach be 
not digested, a dark mass will be seen in front of these, 
H 
