OCR Text |
Show Deadly Mosquito Female Doe All Deadly Work of Fever Propagation The male mosquito does not bite ; his bill is so blunt that he could not be a bloodsucker if he wished. It is the female mosquito that does all the deadly work of fever propagation, according ac-cording to a writer in the Scientific American. In the autumn the males die, and the females seek winter quarters. They hibernate in dark corners of cellar and garret, and on the first warm day of spring are out laying their eggs. Save when extended by the arrival of this hibernating period, the life of the female is one or two months; the male, on the other hand, lives but a few days. The food of the mosquito is the juice and nectar of plants and, of course, blood though not necessarily that of man ; animals, reptiles and even caterpillars caterpil-lars are bitten with the same freedom. The female mosquito lays from 50 to 100 eggs at a time, on any quiet bit of water. In about three days they hatch, and though at first the larva is very small, it grows rapidly and attains full development in a few days. We have then the familiar wrigglers of the old-time rain barrel and the uncovered cistern. During the larval stage, which lasts from seven to fourteen days, the malarial variety can be distinguished from all others by the curiously inclined, in-clined, by virtue of the fact that it lies with its body parallel to the surface sur-face of the water while the other species hang with their heads downward. |