Mosquito

Mosquito (dim. of Span. mosca, 'a fly'), a name applied to various troublesome gnats, for the most part belonging to the genus Culex, though sometimes members of the adjacent family Simuliidae. They are very widely distributed, especially in tropical countries, but also in the far north, as in Arctic America, Lapland, and Siberia. The numerous species to which the popular title mosquito is justifiably applied are not yet known with sufficient precision. Yet the entomologists catalogue 150 species of Culex alone, of which 35 occur in Europe, and most of these bite sorely enough to be ranked as mosquitoes. In hot summers the cry is sometimes heard that mosquitoes have appeared in Britain from the Continent or even from America. Importations no doubt occur; but the fact is that mosquitoes are always with us under the name of gnats. In hot weather they often appear in great swarms, especially in low countries, and the temperature seems to exaggerate their venomous voracity and our sensibility too. In places where they abound complete protection from their notoriously intense bites is almost impossible, but 'mosquito-curtains' of very fine gauze are most useful safeguards at night. The natives of various countries smear themselves with oil or grease, and sometimes sleep with their bodies almost buried in sand. It is noteworthy, however, that some people are much less susceptible and sensitive to mosquito-bites than is the case with the great majority. In some countries an additional terror is associated with mosquitoes, since they seem to be the host of the embryonic stage of Filaria sanguinis hominis, a parasite of man associated with the loathsome disease of Elephantiasis (q.v.). For the structure and life-history of most mosquitoes, see GNAT.