Danced over by the midge.
(R. Browning, By the Fireside.)
There is no zoological distinction between a mosquito, a gnat, or a midge. But, as a matter of convenience, we might confine the term ‘gnat’ to the genus Culex, the term ‘mosquito’ to the genus Anopheles, and the term ‘midge’ to the genus Ceratopogon and its congeners, whose collocation with the naked knees of the Highlander is said to have given rise to the ‘Highland Fling.’
There is no doubt about it that both the mosquito and the gnat are extraordinarily beautiful insects. This fact, however, has been veiled from the public partly owing to their small size and more especially because of their irritating bite, which causes the sufferer to kill a mosquito at sight rather than examine its fairy-like beauty or its fascinating dances in the air, far surpassing in grace and agility anything seen in the Russian ballet. But biting is the dominating note of a mosquito, and we may as well consider, to begin with, how it bites.
If we examine the head of a mosquito we shall find that it is shaped like a circular cushion bearing two enormous eyes—so large that in the male they touch above the forehead and almost meet below the chin. Each eye consists of hundreds of facets of a brilliant green hue, set in a darkish background, like emeralds arranged on a black surface. The head also bears a quantity of hairs and flattened scales whose number, shape, and arrangement are of considerable systematic value.
The following are the appendages of the head:—
1. A pair of antennae, which are markedly different in the two sexes.
2. A pair of mandibles. These are absent in the male.
3. A pair of first maxillae, each of which has a jointed tactile palp.
4. A pair of second maxillae which have fused together to form a deeply grooved soft process in which the other appendages lie.