OCR Text |
Show M opqnltoes. The bill of a mosquito is a complex in stitution. It has a blunt fork at the head, and is apparently grooved. Working through the groove, and projecting from the angle of the fork, is a lance of perfect per-fect I'oriu sharpened with a tine bevel. Beside it the most perfect lance looks like a hand saw. On either side of the lance two saws are arranged, with the points fine and sharp and the teeth well refined and keen. The backs of these sawn play against the lance. When the mosquito alights with his peculiar hum, it thrusts its keen lance, and then enlarges en-larges the aperture with tho two saws, which play beside the lance until the forked bill wilh its capillary arrangement arrange-ment for pumping blood can be inserted. The sawing process is what grates upon the nerves of the victim and causes him to strike wildly at the sawyer. Hall's Journal of Health, |