MOSQUITOES. 187 
possessed certain properties. The water had to be rain- 
water full of animal or vegetable matter, and had to be lo- 
cated in a depression so that the wind could not disturb its 
surface very greatly. Ponds were also utilized, providing 
plenty of grass and other plants formed an obstruction 
to retard or prevent the waves from disturbing the 
surface in too violent a manner. In the middle or in the 
deeper part of ponds but few larve or pupz of mosquitoes 
could be found. With the arrival of warmer weather those 
mosquitoes, that had found a shelter in which to hibernate, 
also started into renewed activity, and they also com- 
menced to multiply in a very rapid manner. 
After a short season of love the female mosquito depos- 
ited her eggs upon the surface of the water, and selected for 
this purpose almost invariably the very early morning, so 
that it was somewhat troublesome to watch this operation, 
especially, as all other female mosquitoes not engaged in 
such work would try their very best to drive away the in- 
truder. They did this‘not in a very ladylike manner and 
their remarks about the intruder were of a most biting 
character! Ofcourse the gentlemanly male did not engage 
in biting, simply because he can not do so, lacking the neces- 
sary organs for that purpose. Selecting a floating object or 
a quiet spot where the water is not greatly disturbed, the 
female deposits a large number of eggs in the shape of a 
raft. In doing so the female supports her body upon the 
four front legs, while her two hind legs are crossed, as seen 
in the illustration (153 d). In this angle thus formed by 
the hind legs, the eggs are formed into a sort of raft as they 
pass one by one from the abdomen, and being sticky they 
adhere to each other. These small egg-masses look like a 
bit of floating soot, and if investigated more closely it will 
be found that each contains on an average over 300 eggs, 
and that each egg is a very elongated affair, resembling an 
old-styled flask with a stopper. Such egg-masses, which 
must float upon the surface of the water to obtain the 
necessary air and warmth, will always float in the proper 
position, no matter how violently we may stir the water. 
To enable them to do so a film of air surrounds the eggs, 
