BIOGRAPHY OF A MOSQUITO. (From Donahoe's Magazine.)

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1872, 5 July 1884, Page 4

BIOGRAPHY OF A MOSQUITO. (From Donahoe's Magazine.)

If the mosquito were a veiy rare insect, found only m some fjr-oft country, wo should look upon it as oue of the most curious of living creatures, and read its history with wonder— that an animal could live two such very diffeuuit lives, one in the water and the other in the air. We speak of the mosquito as if there were" hut one, whil ; really there aie over 30 different kinds, all, however, having similar habits, so that a descrip tion ot one answers for all. The female mosquito lays her eggs on the water. She torms a little boat, glueing the eggs together side b$ side, until she has form 250 to 350 thus fastened together. Tho eggs then hatch, and the young mosquito enters pact of its life is to be passed. You can find the young insects in this, their lanal btage, in pools of fiesh water, or even in a tub of rain water which has been standing uncovered for a few days. They are called wrigglers, on account of the di oil way in which they juk about the water. They feed upon veiy minute creatures, and also upon decaying able matter. Near the tail the wngglor has a tube through which it bieathes. If you approach the pool or tub very quietly, you cau see them in great numbers, heads downward, with their breathing tube above the surface. If you make the least disturbance, they will scamper down into deep water. Aftei wiiggling about for two weeks, and changing their skins several times, the larva becomesa pupa. You know that most insects in the pupa state do not move, but take a sleep of gi eater or less length. Not so the lively little mosquito. In its pupa state it becomos a big- headed creatuie ■which does not eat. It moves about rapidly, but not with the same wriggling motion ; it now has a pair of paddies at its tail end, and takes in a,h through tubes near the head. In five or ten days the mosquito ends its life in the ■water, and becomes a winged insect. The pupa comes to the surface, and the skin ciacks open on the back, allowing first its head and cheat to comefoith, finally the legs, wings and tne lost. This is a most trying moment in the life of th» insect ;" if a slight putt' of wind should upset it before the wings are dry, it will surely drown. .Only a small pioportion of the whole number succeed in safely leaving the pupa case ; the greater share became food for the fishes. If the wings once get fanly dty, then the insect can sail away, humming its tiny song of gladness. How does it sing '.' Perhaps when you hcaid its notes at night you did not stop to consider. It is a point that puzzled many naturalists, and it is not certainly known how the note is produced, but probably the rapid motion of the wings and the vibration of the muscles of the chest aie both concerned in it. The most interresting part about the msect — the "'business part" as someone has called it — is its sting, or sucker. This is not a simple, sharp-pointed tube, but consists of six parts, which lie together in <i sheath, and used as one. How bhaip these must be to run through our skin so easily ! After the puncture is made, it then acts as a sucker to draw up the blood. The insects which visits is io the female. We raiely sec the male mosquito. Blood is not necessary to the eustance of the mosquitoes, and piobably but a, small share ot them ever taste it. The cotintiies in which mosquitoes li\c in gie.it numbers — actual clouds — ue not inhabited, and there are but few animals.

Tur death is announced of Count Vladimir Adleiberg at St Pcteisbeig, at tlio age of 94. The deceased gcnoial, who was bom in 17!K), enteied the ai'iiy at the age of 21, ami took p.irfc in the campaign which ended in the \ictoiions cntiy of the allies in Paiisin ISU. Jle vas thus a companion in aims of the German Empeioi in his fiist cdmp.ii^n. '• IVh, lost a patient, ' said a doctor, taking his belt m a club smoking loom with a fiown on his f.iee. " I'm sony to hear it. Man 01 woman ?"' a^ked one of the meinbeis. "Man." " When did he die ?" " Die ! Hc\s not dead ! lie stopped taking medicine, pot well and r.ui away •\\tthout pajing the bill." As a specimen of metaphor, the following used the other day at a boi&tctous meeting, is about the finest on leeoid : " Mistorr Spakei, son, the apple of discorrd has been thiown in 0111 midst, and if it be not at once nipped m the bud, 'twil burst into a conllagiation which threatens to deluge the whole would," Mn Jom.s : "I wondei A>hy in the ■world CJongiess dosun't do something at once to st\mp out polygamy?' Mis Jones : " Because Congiess i-j composed of men, and men don't Know anj thing. 1 could kill polygamy with one blow. Mr Jones : " Oil, indeed ; and how would you doit ?'' Mis Jones : •' I would go to Salt Lake City and stait a millinery stoic theie." Is one depaitment the leccnt Calcutta Exhibition appeals to ha\e far bin passed any international show that has t\u been he-Id The details of the jeuelleiy displayed there lecall to mind the splcndoia deseiibed in the " Aiabian Nights.' We lead of " a mngniluaut cats eye diadem," valued at be\cial thousand pounds, of a diamond necklace pi iced at fifteen thousand pounds, and ot a monster uiby, tliowoith of winch io estimated to be foity thousand pounds. These, however, aie nothing by the >>ido of the pieeious tioa=uu'S lent toi cxliiluby some of the natne piinccs. Fioni for instance, came v nu of each of which was cut tium two emeralds, and a gailandof peails stiung on a coid, so as to give the effect of aiope one inch in diameter. Perhaps the most eupeib exhibit was " a throne in gold," with a sappliiie and costal top, suuouud&d by a number of jewelled idois. The total s alve of the at tides that weie on show in the depaitment is estimated at over a million steilmg. Fa.sT Boats. — "How about your liver steameis? Are they \ cry fast ?'' " Yer may say .so ! We've a tidewheel steamer called the Idlowild as '11 knock the &pots off anything you ever heeidon, She goes so fast as the guv'ment was obliged to pass a law fur her to jun on check within five mile o' the ' canal' fur fear her wash 'ud sweep the bull contain out inter tiie lake an' lose it." "Indeed!" "Yes, indeed. And we've a little narrer boat called the Mary, cs jist goes along like a streak. D'ye know what happened the other day ? I was down at Lambton, a little one-boss village on Canady shoie, a laj'in' in my summer stock o — -well, say *oa — when that Mary passed dow n the river. Go ! Gracious Joseph ! She flew!" "Well?" " Well, when she'd passed about beven minirs we seed somethin' a flickerin' an' flutterin' on the top of the water, and what d'ye think it vas ?" "How should I know ?" "Well, I wouldn't a believed it, on'y Jem Hathaivay passed clean ovei it with his .skiff." " What was it?" "It wer the shadcr o' that boat bumpiu' along to catch up. Never saw anythin' so cuiious in all yer life." The Fate of Skdax.— A singular stroke of iiony has settled the fate of the little town of Sedan. It lanked high in the list of French foi tified places. The late Emperor took lefuge within its walls as a stronghold that had the reputation of being impiegnable. A short time ago the Minister of War had a list of all the forti esses and strongholds of the country, and from this catalogue Sedan was absent. The town was judged as being of no military importance whatsoever. It was not woith while to retain the defences it possessed. The great keep, with its lofty walls and subterranean passages is in process of demolition, and sueli fortifications as remain are spared merely because they aie not worth destruction. The little cottage on the l oad to Ba/.eillcs, where the Emperor had his memorable interview with Prince Bismarck, and where the four gold pieces which he gave to his hostess as he left her roof still hang framed over the chimney piece, will mrvive one of tiie great national strong' Jiolda of France.