THE RATE OF DIGESTION OF BLOOD IN MOSQUITOES. PRECIPITIN TEST STUDIES

This paper describes the use of the serological procedure known as the precipitin test to study the rate of digestion of host blood in mosquitoes. In the laboratory, at constant temperatures, precipitin reactions were obtained on blood meals of Aedes aegypti eight days after engorgement when the mosquitoes were held at 11 °C. but only one or two days after engorgement when the holding temperature was 27 °C. Field studies with A. hexodontus in northern Manitoba also showed that temperature has a strong influence on the rate of blood digestion. Pertinent literature is reviewed and the limitations of the precipitin test are discussed. Until now little attention has been devoted in Canada to possible disease transmission by mosquitoes. Increasing interest in mosquitoes as vectors of the encephalitides and proved transmission of western equine encephalitis by Culex restuans in Manitoba suggest the importance of further knowledge of mosquito physiology.