A large brown sort, called by the Portuguese _mansos_ (tame), flies straight to its victim, and goes to work at once, as though it were an invited guest.

Some of the small kinds carry uncommonly sharp lancets, and very potent poison.

"What would these insects eat, if we did not pass this way ?" becomes a natural question.
The juices of plants, and decaying vegetable matter in the mud, probably form the natural food of mosquitoes, and blood is not necessary for their existence.

They appear so commonly at malarious spots, that their presence may be taken as a hint to man to be off to more healthy localities.

None appear on the high lands.