A monograph of the Anopheles mosquitoes of India / by S.P. James and W. Glen Liston.

  • Sydney Price James
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A monograph of the Anopheles mosquitoes of India / by S.P. James and W. Glen Liston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    The relative numbers of different species. species have of secreting themselves among the straw of a thatched roof and of resting only upon objects which are as nearly as possible the same colour as they are themselves, are very important. In order to exemplify this, it seems worth while to recount an instance which happened in our experience. In the malarious village of Ennur in the Madras Presidency, A. torsi was so abundant that on almost every straw of the thatched roof of every house three or four specimens of this species were resting. A careful search in the ordinary way did not reveal the presence of any other species, and it is certain that, had there been no other (object in the search than the mere determination of the species of “ anopheles ” present in the village, the observer would have gone away quite satisfied that A. rossi was alone present. But the village was an extremely malarious one, and knowing that .1. rossi was an inefficient carrier of malaria in nature, he was un- willing to believe that no other species was present in the houses. Fixing his mind, therefore, upon the thought that he was looking for A. culicifacies and not for A, rossi, he again commenced the search with great care, and was rewarded not only by detecting the presence of A. culicifacies, but by catching a sufficient number of this species during several days’ work, to prove that it was the species responsible for the prevalence of malaria in the place and not the very much more abundant species A. rossi, THE FOOD OF ANOPHELES. THEIR NOCTURNAL HABITS. Mr. Theobald reports that one species of “anopheles,” iiiz., A. maculipennis, does not habitually feed on blood in England. Nuttall and Shipley, however, found that this species readily sucked blood in laboratory experiments. All the species known to us in India certain- ly feed chiefly, if not entirely, on the blood of men or of animals. In laboratory experiments seven species, with which experiments were made, readily sucked blood every night for several weeks, in spite of the fact that they had not completely digested their previous meals. Fuhgutosus, culicifacies, listoni, and rossi also fed readily on the blood of pigeons and sparrows. Anopheles feed almost exclusively at night or in the early morning just before dawn. During the daytime, even if they are taken into a dark room, it is almost impossible to get them to suck blood. Exceptional instances have been recorded—and have 54]