Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/382

MOSQUITO 320 MOSQUITO COAST or seat of the Caliph; a place for the preservation of the Koran, and finally the mimbar, or kind of pulpit. A f ui^her requirement is the minaret, a kind of tower, from which the imam calls the hour of prayer, and of which the larger mosques generally possess four or six. MOSQUITO, the popular name of vari- ous two-winged insects, having a large proboscis, with which they attack man, General Gorgas during the excayation of the Panama Canal. See Malaria. MOSQUITO COAST, or RESERVE, a maritime tract of Nicaragua, having E. the Caribbean Sea, and S. the river San Juan, which separates it from Costa Rica. The river Segovia, which enters the Caribbean Sea near Cape Gracias a Dios, is the boundary with Honduras. Next the sea, the surface is low and A. Eggs MOSQUITO C. Pupa D. Male E. Female sucking his blood. They belong chiefly to the genus Culex, or at least the family Culicidse. The mosquito of the West In- dies and parts of America is C. mosquito. Mosquitoes abound also in the tropical parts of the Eastern World, and are troublesome in the Polar regions. The male of the mosquito feeds on plant- juices; it is the female which attacks man. The scientific theory attributing to the bites of mosquitoes the transmis- sion of malaria and yellow fevers has led to experiments by various physicians in the hospital in Havana, Cuba, by Dr. Doty (during the summer of 1901) on Staten Island, N. Y., and by Surgeon- broken by numerous lagoons, but gradu- ally rises toward the interior. Mosquito Coast is inhabited by people of mixed In- dian and African race, some 15,000 in all, and by tribes of aboriginal Indians. Chief town, Bluefields; pop. (1917) 4,706. Mosquito Coast was discovered by Colum- bus in 1502, and appropriated by Spain. From 1655 to 1850 it was an English pro- tectorate, but in 1860 was made over to Nicaragua. After being for some time under the protectorate of Great Britain was reincorporated with Nicaragua by free resolution of the Indians and named the department of Zelaya, Nov. 20, 1894. Recognized by Great Britain in 1905.