Factors in the Attractiveness of Bodies for Mosquitoes

Abstract

THE greater part of Canada, particularly the northern forest and subarctic regions, is infested during the summer months by many species of Aëdes mosquitoes. Following two years of laboratory investigation of the factors which attract mosquitoes to an animal body, an opportunity was given by the Defence Research Board and the Division of Entomology, Department of Agriculture, to study the responses of the female mosquitoes in the field, both in Ontario and in the interior of Labrador. For this purpose two stainless-steel tanks, each containing 100 lb. of water, were set up 6 ft. apart in a forest glade. They were electrically heated to a constant temperature of 98° F., clothed in a felt shirt and black crepe jerkin, and so shaped and mounted that they resembled dummy men; on occasion a head was added with an orifice for the exhalation of gases.