232 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY I3TH ANNUAL REPORT 



our area than in some places farther north. The yellow fever 

 mosquito (Stegomyia or Aedes calopus) is believed not to be in- 

 digenous, but to breed only in artificial habitats. 



The consensus of opinion seems to be that mosquitoes are most 

 abundant on the east coast;* but even if they are that does not 

 prevent Daytona from being a summer resort for people from the 

 interior as well as a winter resort for northern people. A good 

 brief summary of the mosquito situation in Florida by Clifton F. 

 Hodge, a nature student of national reputation, appeared in the 

 Florida Entomologist (Gainesville), for July, 1920. 



Sandflies (a very small species of gnat) are said to be very 

 annoying on the east coast at times, but the writer has never hap- 

 pened to encounter them there (or anywhere else). 



Roaches^or cockroaches as they are called in the books — of 

 several species are common, as in other warm climates (and in 

 steam-heated buildings farther north), but they seem to be mostly 

 native species, that live in decaying wood, etc.. and do not ordi- 

 narily invade houses. t And the more domesticated species have 

 at least one thing to be said in their favor, namely, they are said 

 not to tolerate the presence of bedbugs in the same house; conse- 

 quently the latter are very scarce in Florida. 



Mites. A very common but inconspicuous animal, resembling 

 an insect but belonging with the spiders, is the redbug ( Tro)iibid- 

 iuni sp., known farther north as chigger, or harvest mite). It is 

 not peculiar to Florida, but ranges northward to Maryland and 

 Wisconsin or thereabouts, and allied species are said to be trou- 

 blesome in parts of England, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, 



*From 1824 to 1845 approximately the eastern third of central Florida 

 was known as Mosquito County, probably taking its name from Mosquito 

 Lagoon on the coast of what is now Volusia and Brevard Counties. In 1901 

 the Florida Legislature — whose jurisdiction in such matters may be ques- 

 tioned — decreed that the lagoon should thereafter be known as Indian River 

 North; but Mosquito Inlet, near New Smyrna, the mouth of the lagoon, is 

 still on the maps. 



tAn easily accessible pamphlet on roaches and how to deal with them 

 is Farmers' Bulletin 658 of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, published 

 in 1915. 



