The Singing Mosquitoes

 By W. P. Maclean
 Associate Professor of Biology
 College of the Virgin Islands

 AL MOSQUITO DE LA TROMPETILLA

 Ministril de las ronchas y picadas,
 misquito postillon, mosca barbero;
 hecho me tienes el testuz harnero,
 y deshecha la cara a manotadas.
 Trompetilla, que toca a bofetadas,
 que vienes con rejon contra mi cuero,
 cupido pulga, chinche trompetero,
 que vuelas comezones amoladas.
 ZPor que me avisas, si picarme quires?
 que pues qu6 das dolor i los que cantas,
 de casta, y condition de potras eres.
 Ti vuelas, y tu picas, y tu espantas,
 y aprendes del.cuidado y de las mujeres,
 a malquistar el suefio con las mantas.
 QUEVEDO
 I find it curious that mosquitoes appear so infrequently in
world literature. A case could be make for mosquitoes being the
type of animal which has the greatest interaction with man. The
nuisance is almost universal and the mosquito-carried diseases
very significant. We compete for food with other insects and
rodents, but mosquitoes get us where it really hurts -- health and
comfort.

 Quevedo's sonnet is fascinating because it asks obvious and
significant questions which, it seems, very rarely occur to anybody.
Why do mosquitoes attract one's attention with a high-pitched
hum, when they could sneak in unannounced to steal one's blood?
Why can you feel the bite of hair-sized proboscis, when, without
either song or sting, we would never know that our blood had been
sucked? These questions must occur to millions of people, but
since they are probably half asleep when bitten and would just as
well forget the experience, they are generally lost to literature.

 The song question is, in fact, easily answered. Mosquitoes are
not singing for our benefit, but to communicate with other mos-
quitoes. Mating occurs soon after the female mosquito drinks
blood; the pair come together with the aid of this unlikely roman-
tic ballad. The song undoubtedly serves other functions, such as
interactions other than sex, but I am ignorant of what they might
be.


 The bite is another matter altogether. It would definitely
be to the mosquito's advantage if we could not feel it. Many
fewer would be slapped and fail to reproduce as a result. In fact,
the slapping of mosquitoes in areas where humans are common,
must be a significant factor favoring those mosquitoes which hurt
less. There must undoubtedly be genetic control over how much
each mosquito hurts, so that mosquito evolution tends to minimize
the pain to humans. The reason the pain does not disappear is that
it serves man's purposes, in an evolutionary sense, to know he is
being bitten. He can slap a few or, if there are many, he can move
away or hide under the sheet. So much for the sneak attack -- it
serves neither the mosquito nor man.


The mating flight of mosquitoes is "an aerodynamic wonder,"
with two seemingly flying with the same agility as one. (Sketch
from "The Insects," readings from Scientific American, pub-
lished by W. H. Freeman and Company, p. 74).

 Most everybody is familiar with the mosquito life cycle.
 Eggs are laid either in water or a moist place, depending on the


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