ABSTRACT
The Mosquito, as is well known, poses a thorny theological problem. For unlike the Manichean Mosquito, of whom mention has been made, he reflects that man is highest in the degrees of material being, and that what is quintessential in man is his blood, which is purest when the mortal frame is gently laid asleep. Thus, by imbibing the blood of man, the Mosquito hopes to become, not merely like the ghosts in Homer's Iliad, able to talk with men, but like the gods themselves, enjoying the knowledge of good and evil. The Mosquito chooses the best defect in the net, makes his entry into the bedroom and over the bed. All is now ready for his final dive-bombing attack. When the Mosquito settles on a window, it is the easiest thing in the world to kill him there, like a sitting duck.
