om
far inland is based on the supposition that these insects are capable
of long-sustained flight, and a certain amount of battling against the
wind. This is an error. Mosquitoes are frail of wing; a light puff of
breath will illustrate this by hurling the helpless creature away, and
it will not venture on the wing again for some time after finding a
safe harbor. The prevalence of mosquitoes during a land breeze is
easily explained. It is usually only during the lulls in the wind that
Culex can fly. Generally on our coast a sea breeze means a stiff
breeze, and during these mosquitoes will be found hovering on the
leeward side of houses, sand dunes, and thick foliage.... While the
strong breezes last, they will stick closely to these friendly
shelters, though a cluster of houses may be but a few rods off, filled
with unsuspecting mortals who imagine their tormentors are far inland
over the salt meadows. But if the wind dies down, as it usually does
when veering, out come swarms upon swarms of females intent upon
satisfying their depraved taste for blood. This explains why they
appear on the field of action almost immediately after the cessation
of the strong breeze; on the supposition that they were blown inland,
this sudden reappearance would be unaccountable."

A sultry, rainy period of midsummer is commonly referred to as "good
mosquito weather." The accepted idea is that mosquitoes are much more
abundant at such times. This is true, and the explanation is simple.
Mosquito larvae, or wrigglers, as they are termed, require water for
their development. A heavy shower leaves standing water, which, when
the air is full of moisture, evaporates slowly. Then, too, the heat
favors the growth of the microoerganisms on which the larvae feed;
wrigglers found in the water forty-eight hours after their formation
will have plenty of food, and adult mosquitoes will appear six to
eight days after the eggs are laid. Clear weather, with quick
evaporation, interferes with the development of the wrigglers, so that
a season with plenty of rain, but with sunshiny, drying weather
intervening, is not "good mosquito weather."

_Destroy the Larvae_

Inasmuch as a generation of mosquitoes appear to torment man within
ten days, at the longest, after the eggs are laid; as a batch laid by
a female mosquito contains from two hundred to four hundred eggs; as
from each egg may issue a larva or wriggler which in six days will be
an adult mosquit