662 :mosquitoes of north America 



that belief was the conclusion that mosquito control was purely a local matter 

 and that almost any community could rid itself of trouble no matter what the 

 surroundings might be; provided, of course, they were a reasonable distance 

 away. No one fact in mosquito history impressed itself quite so firmly upon the 

 mind of the public that looked into the matter at all, and the result was, in 

 New Jersey, a series of local efforts in the most progressive communities. These 

 communities did not take kindly to the suggestion when first made, that the 

 bulk of their mosquito supply was not a local product, and some of them con- 

 tinued their hopeless task until the ovei'whelming swarms of 1903 and early 

 1904 seemed to prove all their previous efforts worthless and made them a 

 laughing stock. 



" Yet the very earliest systematic collections demonstrated that certain species 

 might be present in overwhelming numbers where no trace of their larvae could 

 be found. Gulex soUicitans was the species that first attracted attention, partly 

 because in my cranberry investigations in the pine regions it swarmed so numer- 

 ously ; partly because it was that year also the dominant species at New Bruns- 

 wick. I have elsewhere spoken of my efforts to obtain eggs and larvge of this 

 species and my failure to find them inland, while at the shore every pool 

 swarmed with them. My first shore collections were made at Anglesea, where 

 sollicHans was at that time the dominant species. For that reason I did not 

 find cantator and believed soUicitans the sole migrant. In 1902 Mr. Brehme 

 took the field, Mr. Dickerson was detailed as opportunity served, and I devoted 

 all available time to the same end. Never were marshes more thoroughly 

 explored, and the result was that instead of one, we found four species breeding 

 on them. Furthermore, we failed absolutely to find any of these larvae anywhere 

 on the upland, though we found plenty of others. Except for Culex salinarius, 

 the adults from these marsh wrigglers were found miles inland, infernal nui- 

 sances, where locals were almost or entirely absent. 



" In 1903, with additional funds, I had six men in the field and the voluntary 

 assistance of Mr. Brakeley. Dr. Julius Nelson, Professor of Biology, engaged in 

 oyster work along the shore, was also good enough to make certain observations 

 for me, and the result was a complete demonstration of the migratory habits of 

 Culex soUicitans, C. cantator and C. tceniorliynchus. The observations made 

 during the early season of 1904, with fuller knowledge of the factors, were 

 equally conclusive. The development of the broods on the Newark and Karitan 

 marshes was watched almost from day to day. Before the larvae matured, care- 

 ful search was made for several miles back and along the first ridge of the Orange 

 Mountains to make certain of what was developing there. The appearance of 

 the adults was noted on the meadows, before a single specimen was seen in 

 Newark. They were watched for a day or two slowly advancing until, a favor- 

 able night happening, the ever-increasing swarms arose and next morning had 

 settled along the first ridge of the mountains. The second brood, maturing dur- 

 ing the last days of June, was watched in the same way, and the early days of 

 July, 1903, brought inland the greatest swarm of mosquitoes I have ever seen. 

 They reached New Brunswick July 2d, and included the three species, soUici- 

 tans, cantator and tceniorhynchus. Meanwhile, Mr. Viereck was observing at 

 Cape May, and watched the peninsula filling with soUicitans bred at the shore ; 

 not a larva of which he could find where the adults swarmed. He noted that after 

 a continuous south wind the marshes became practically free from mosquitoes, 

 and he noted further that a few days later blood-filled specimens with develop- 

 ing or developed ovaries returned to them from the upland. This seemed to him 

 in the nature of a return migration for oviposition as all specimens were worn 

 and battered. 



