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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



such jDonds the presence of fish may account for the absence of mos- 

 quitoes. Tlieir larvae furnisli food for many species of our smaller 

 tishes, and by them myriads of mosquitoes are annually destroyed. 

 Goldfish are particularly fond of mosquito 'wigglers,' and the pair of 

 fish in the illustration (see Fig. 11) were seen to eat ninety-eight 

 Svigglers' in four minutes. Goldfish will live and multiply in almost 

 any small and shallow pond in tliis vicinity, where the water is warm. 

 They are perfectly hardy and will thrive just as well and perhaps 

 better in staonant water than thev will in fresh. 



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1' lu. li. < lOLiJi- isii Katinu Mosulito Larv.k. Life size These two fish were seen to eat ninety- 

 eight ' wigglers ' in four minutes. They always fed upon mosquito iMrva; when they 

 could get them in preference to prepared goldfish food. 



The 'top minnow/ the waeh, the sunfish or 'jmnii^kin seed' and 

 even the sluggish horn pout all play an important part in reducing 

 the numbers of mosquito 'wigglers.' Besides the fishes, there are 

 other 'foes of the water' that prey upon mosquito larvae. Many of the 

 predatory water bugs feed upon them. Professor J. B. Smith, in the 

 report previously referred to, says that "among these predatory insects 

 which abound in shallow permanent bodies of water wherever there is 

 vegetation, the water boatman {Corisa and Notonecta), the water 

 striders or 'skate bugs' (Hydroliatidse) and the water scorpions (Ne- 



