THE MOSQUITO 
23 
berry. The moth has a very rapid flight. (See 
alternative name.) Entomological name is "Hepi- 
alus Virescens.” 
THE MOSQUITO 
DESCRIPTION—Body, thin with six long legs. 
Wings, only two, gauzy. Antennae, those of the 
female are short with a long sucker tube between 
them; those of the male resemble those of a moth. 
(See p. 13.) Humming noise: This is caused by 
the rapid vibration of the antennae of the male 
mosquito, but it is the quieter female that bites 
and sucks the blood. 
CYCLE—Female mosquito lays its eggs in a 
cluster on surface of stagnant water. The well- 
known “wrigglers” emerge. The body of- the 
“wriggler” has nine or ten bulb-shaped segments 
of which the one next to the head is the largest. 
The breathing apparatus is in the wriggler’s 
bifurcated tail. The creature frequently comes to 
the surface of the water to breathe, and its position 
is then peculiar, the heavy part of its body being 
downwards, and the tip of its tail just above the 
water surface. The wrigglers gradually change to 
“tumblers” rvith much bigger heads, each having 
two small breathing tubes placed like ears at the 
two sides of the head. After seven or eight days 
the “tumbler” becomes inactive and floats on the 
water, and two or three days later the full-grown 
mosquito drags itself out of the skin of the 
“tumbler.” Hence “wrigglers” are the larvae and 
"tumblers” are the pupae of these insects. (Illus¬ 
tration, p. 29.) 
