The  mosquito  feeding  at  night  imbibes  filaria  with  the  blood
of  its  victim,  and  then  retiring  to  some  shady  place  near
water  digests  the  meal,  and  matures  its  ova.  The  insect  then
betakes  itself  to  water,  and  deposits  boat^shaped  masses  of
^gg^  While  in  the  stomach  of  the  mosquito  the  filaria
undergoes  a  metamorphosis,  becoming  possessed  of  an  ali-
mentary canal,  rudimentary  organs  of  generation,  and
crown  of  papUks  which  serve  as  a  boring  apparatus,  and

*  Report  of  San,  Com.  with  Oov,  of  India,

R  2


244  ELEFHANTIASIS.
enable  the  filaria  to  leave  the  body  of  the  mosquito,  when
the  insect  dies  after  depositing  her  eggs.     The  favoured  few
filaria  thus  surviving  are  drunk  with  water  by  human  beings.
