Word: hummingly
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...rest of the show much of a help. Ira Gershwin's lyrics are neat enough, and the mainstay of two lively ditties, Don't Be a Woman If You Can and Land of Opportunitee; but Composer Schwartz gives you nothing whatever to hum. The dancing is agreeably tame, the chorus is more slight than select, the costumes lack charm and the singing lacks body. Leonora Corbett (Blithe Spirit) and Arthur Margetson (Around the World) are helpful performers but no miracle-workers. Park Avenue never catches the mood, or captures the lure, or achieves the high spirits of genuine...
...hum of the invaders stirred Rio to action. With the flying hordes momentarily stalled by rain and cool weather about 90 miles south of Sao Paulo's great coffee plantations, the first act of Brazil's new Chamber of Deputies was to vote an emergency $97,380 for grasshopper defense. Last week a Brazilian military plane headed south from the U.S. with a two-ton load of flamethrowers provided in a hurry by the U.S. Gammexane, modern man's best bet in such warfare, was unobtainable, and the Biological Institute of Sao Paulo had to concoct...
...responded best to a mating call of 350-750 vibrations per second; Anopheles preferred a lower range (320-480). In spite of overlapping of ranges, no male made passes at a female of the wrong species. The Army's conclusion: a female mosquito must have other attractions than hum...
...males become sex-conscious five hours after emerging from their pupal cases. But Anopheles males are moody. Sometimes the sweetest hum will not excite them. With antennae removed, both Aedes and Anopheles males are nonresponsive. If a female beats her wings at the wrong rate, she hums the wrong pitch, never acquires a mate...
Inner Calls. The study of hum appeal was pure science. More practical was the study of biting habits (female only). The Army learned that skin color makes little difference. A victim's hand bathed in green light was bitten as readily as the same hand bathed in red. Mosquitoes, probably, can see only large masses in black-&-white. They are repelled somewhat by a black or a white shirt, prefer intermediate shades. A female mosquito with eyes removed can find a victim; but with antennae removed, she goes hungry...