Ann Arbor Mosquitos

Only Few of Them Cause Malaria

They Bite And Thrive

And Increase at An Amazing Rate- Observations of Dr. George Dock of the University

Certain kinds of mosquitoes cause malaria. Dr. George Dock read an interesting paper on this subject by the health officers last week, giving the result of a close study of the Ann Arbor mosquito. Among other things, Dr. Dock said that the mosquitoes had been known to bite through a leather boot; female mosquitoes must suck blood every two days to properly fertilize their eggs. In four days a single female will sometimes lay 400,000,000 eggs, not all of which are likely to hatch. Freezing frequently fails to destroy the larva. Female mosquitoes live all summer and are the only ones that bite. Male mosquitoes don't live so long and suck the juices of plants for their food. A female mosquito sucks an amount of blood about equal to her own weight. The mosquito, after injecting her proboscis, first injects her poisonous saliva and waits a while before sucking blood. Mosquitoes have been known to kill young fishes by sucking blood and will suck the juices out of caterpillars and butterflies.

He described to the minutest detail the growth of disease germs in the mosquito's stomach and its injection into the victim through the proboscis. He took for granted that a certain type of mosquito caused malarial fever. He found a few of this kind of mosquitoes around Ann Arbor last summer, but not very many, although he made an extended search.