Rensselaer Standard, Volume 1, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1879 — Life History of a Mosquito. [ARTICLE]

Life History of a Mosquito.

Sunday Magazine. Like the dragon-flies, mosquitoes are inhabitants of the water during their early stages of existence, and are denizens of the air and land when they have attained their wings. Now, the eggs or the gnat must float cm the water, or they could not be hatched, and as they are of exceeding minuteness, they could be liable to destruction if simply dropped into the water and left to themselves. 80, taught by that divine impulse, or in spiratlon, which we call instinct, and which is entirely independent of reason, the gnat, when she is about to lay

her eggs, seeks the water and places herself on the edge of a floating leaf or some similar support, to which she dings bv her fore legs, while the long, slender hind legs are stretched as far as possible over the water, and crossed near their extremities. These legs form a guide for the eggs, which are shaped very much like skittles, one end being rather larger than the other. One by one they are deposited and arranged side by side with the larger end

downward, and fastened together with a peculiar waterproof secretion. They are not set exactly upright, but have a slight slope outward, so that if thev were deposited in rows of equal number they would form a shallow trough open at the ends. But, with the help of the hind legs, tile gnat arranges them so that, instead of a hollow trough, they form a sort of boat pointed and curved upward at each end. If an orange were divided longitudinally into six pieces, the peel of one of the divisions would be a tolerable imitation of the egg-boat. Indeed, our modern life-boats are built on nearly the same lines as the egg-boats of the gnat.

nMwJs not the least difficulty in obtaining these boats for examination. Plenty of them can be found along the edge of every pond, and In almost every rain water butt. They are necessarily very small, but they cannot be mistaken for any other obfeots. Their capability of seLf-hs lance Is perfectly wonderful, and the best life boat of the present day Is not nearly so capable of righting itself when upset ash the egg-boat of the gnat. You mgy dash it into the water as bard as you like, you may push it below the surface, you may pour water upon it, but you cannot swamp ft. In a very short time the warmth of the sun has developed the young gnats within the eggs, and at the proper season they force out the lower end of the egg shell, fall into the water, and swim away. In point of fact there is a little hollow tube, nearly at the end of the tail, which communicates with the breath-

ing apparatus. At tbeupper end ofthe tube is a radiating tuft of naira, arranged something like the ribs of an expanded umbrella. When the creature is under water, the hairs close over the orifice, and prevent the water from entering the air tube. But, when ft rests or wishes to breathe, it rises so that only the tip of the tube appears. The coronet of hairs then expands, and by its means the insect can remain suspended as it were, without moving. Hundreds of these gnat lane may be seen in this attitude on the surface of any rainwater butt. Their mode of swimming is as peculiar as their form. They curl themselves round so as to bring the tail close to the head, with a movement almost exactly that of closing the hand: and by rhythmical curving ana straightening the body, make a tolerably rapid, though rather devious course through the water, If one of these little creatures be taken up in a teaspoon, and examined with a magnifying glass, the whole course of the breathing apparatus can be clearly seen through the transparent skin.

In this state, the future gnat corresponds with the caterpillar of the moth or butterfly, and is called the larvse. It has yet to pass through another s'age of existence, that of the pupa, before it can attain its wiUged state, and become a gnat. As is the case with larvse generally, those of the gnat change tneir skin several times, becoming quiescent and ceasing to feed for some little time before each molt. All silk worm breeders must be familiar with this molt, or “sickness,” as it is popularly called. Just before its last molt, the gnat larvse seems to he in a dying state. It does not swim about as it used to do, but remains at the surface of the water. Presen Ily the skin burets, and forth issues the mosquito.